Europe European Parliament halts investigation against CSU woman
The European Parliament is blocking fraud investigations against CSU Vice-President and MEP Angelika Niebler until further notice. In a secret ballot in Strasbourg, a narrow majority of MEPs voted to reject a request by the European Public Prosecutor's Office to waive Niebler's immunity. 309 MEPs voted in favor of rejecting the motion, 283 against and 53 abstained.
19.05.2026, 13:53
SDA
The MEPs thus followed the recommendation of Parliament's Legal Affairs Committee. The committee had suspected that the main witness in the case may have given information to the public prosecutor's office for political reasons. The witness is a former employee of Niebler's.
The case is controversial because it is not actually the general reputation of a witness that is decisive for the initiation of a preliminary investigation, but whether there are sufficient factual indications for an initial suspicion. In the opinion of the public prosecutor's office, this is the case - partly because the prosecution witness has handed over numerous documents.
The European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) actually wanted to investigate whether the 63-year-old had applied for reimbursement of travel expenses for trips to Strasbourg and Brussels in breach of regulations, following information provided by Niebler's former employee. According to a report on the vote, there is also the question of whether Niebler allowed assistants to temporarily carry out activities that were not related to their parliamentary work. In one specific case, according to the document, there is even the suspicion that an assistant paid by Niebler with EU money worked exclusively for a party friend and former MEP.
Niebler describes the allegations as unfounded. However, she did not want to comment publicly on specific questions until the end. She announced via a law firm that she reserves the right to take legal action against media reporting. In principle, the presumption of innocence applies. The politician from Munich has been a member of the European Parliament since 1999 and is co-chair of the CDU/CSU group there.
Former employee provided information
One of the controversial aspects of the Legal Affairs Committee's approach to the case is that the members did not take the opportunity to obtain additional information from the public prosecutor's office. Instead, they only heard Niebler on the case.
The committee, of which Niebler himself is a deputy member, then approved a report on May 5 by a large majority that recommended rejecting the public prosecutor's request to waive Niebler's parliamentary immunity. The main reason given for the decision was the suspicion that the evidence of Niebler's possible misconduct could have been submitted by a former employee "with a direct political motive". Reference was also made to alleged "inconsistencies in the application".
According to dpa, the witness is a former employee who stood in the 2024 European elections but did not make it into parliament due to her place on the national list. Against this backdrop, Niebler's supporters have reported that the former employee probably only contacted the public prosecutor's office because she hoped that Niebler would be able to give up her mandate under public pressure as a result of an investigation. In this case, she would possibly have the chance to become a successor in parliament.
At the same time, however, even a conviction of Niebler for fraud would not automatically lead to the loss of her mandate. Should she be expelled from the CSU, she could continue as a non-party member of parliament.
Greens: Trust in the rule of law at risk
Green MP Daniel Freund described the result of the vote as bad for the credibility of parliament. "Instead of assuming responsibility, a majority of MPs have taken a protective stance against CSU MP Niebler in order to prevent investigations by the public prosecutor's office," he commented. "This is a fatal signal. Europe's citizens have to abide by the law, while politicians may break the rules for years and get away scot-free? You can't explain that to anyone out there anymore."
He also pointed out the importance of whistleblowers in uncovering scandals. "The aim cannot be to deter such people and make it as difficult as possible for them," he said, referring to the result of the vote. Whistleblowers often put their professional future and financial security at risk when they publish information. "We should protect and celebrate them instead of discrediting and frightening them," said the German politician.
The fact that the Legal Affairs Committee's report on the Niebler case was drawn up by Polish MEP Marcin Sypniewski, who is a member of the right-wing ESN group, is also a source of criticism, particularly from the left-wing camp in Parliament. This group also includes MEPs from the German AfD, some of whom are themselves facing accusations of possible misuse of EU funds.
Niebler has high additional income
According to dpa, even several of Niebler's parliamentary group colleagues have shown a lack of understanding for the committee's actions and the CSU Vice-President's defense strategy to date in recent days - especially because she had initially publicly assured in November that she was interested in a comprehensive investigation.
Niebler herself is also controversial in parliament because she is one of the MPs with the highest perks. According to self-disclosure, she most recently received 5,250 euros per month for freelance work for the law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP. In addition to this, she also received EUR 4,583 per month as a member of the Board of Trustees of the TÜV SÜD Foundation, EUR 2,834 per month as Deputy Chairwoman of the Supervisory Board of LVM a.G. and EUR 1,500 per month as a member of the Supervisory Board of LVM Krankenversicherungs-AG.
The EPPO could now take the case to the European Court of Justice. The authority's credibility is also at stake, as its mandate is to comprehensively and thoroughly investigate all indications of possible criminal offenses to the detriment of the EU's financial interests.
