Federica Mogherini is stepping down from her position as head of the College of Europe, she announced in a statement on Thursday.
Her resignation comes after the former senior EU official was charged in a case of suspected fraud involving EU-funded training for junior diplomats.
"In accordance with the utmost rigour and fairness with which I have always performed my duties, I have decided today to resign from my positions as Rector of the College of Europe and Director of the European Union Diplomatic Academy," said the former EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs.
Mogherini added that she was confident the College's actions would be found to be justified in the investigation.
The 52-year-old Italian and two other European officials have been charged with suspected public procurement fraud, corruption, conflict of interest and breach of professional secrecy.
The other two officials are Stefano Sannino, the general manager of the Middle East, North Africa and Gulf Service at the European Commission, and Secretary General of the EEAS from 2021 to 2025, and Cesare Zegretti, the co-director of the College of Europe’s executive education, training and projects office.
Mogherini was the former head of the EU's foreign office (EEAS) and became rector of the College of Europe in 2020. She was later appointed as the director of the diplomatic academy in August 2022.
It comes a day after Stefano Sannino announced he was stepping down from his role at the European Commission after having been charged in the case.
Investigators from the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) suspect favouritism and possible unfair competition in the awarding of a nine-month training programme for future European diplomats to the College of Europe by the EU's External Action Service.
They are also looking into whether they were told they would be awarded the project before the official publication of the tender notice.
The diplomatic academy's tender was awarded by the European External Action Service to the College of Europe in Belgium for the 2021–2022 period.
