MEPs shield German centre-right Angelika Niebler from EU fraud probe in secret vote
by https://euobserver.com/author/petra-pavlovicova/ · EUobserverGerman European People’s Party MEP Angelika Niebler (r) with Ursula von der Leyen (Source: European Parliament)
MEPs shield German centre-right Angelika Niebler from EU fraud probe in secret vote
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By Petra Pavlovičová,
Strasbourg
,
The European Parliament on Tuesday (19 May) voted to shield centre-right MEP Angelika Niebler from prosecution, avoiding an investigation by the European public prosecutor’s office (EPPO) over her alleged misuse of EU funds.
Tuesday’s secret vote was backed by 309 MEPs, 283 against, with 53 abstentions.
Last November, Der Spiegel and subsequently Politico presented plausible allegations of the misuse of allocated EU funds by Niebler, of the centre-right European People’s Party group (EPP).
From the €30,769 that German MEPs get to spend on staff, in the European parliament or at home in their constituency office, Niebler has been accused of spending for private purposes, including the hiring of local assistants.
The European chief prosecutor requested the lifting of Neibler’s immunity on 21 July last year.
“Under German constitutional law, prosecutors cannot open a criminal investigation against a sitting parliamentarian without prior authorisation from the relevant parliament,” the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) told EUobserver in an emailed statement.
Watchdogs, including The Good Lobby, along with Transparency International EU, Corporate Europe Observatory, and LobbyControl, wrote to MEPs ahead of Tuesday’s plenary vote asking them to lift Niebler’s immunity to allow a proper investigation by the EPPO.
“The refusal to lift immunity now creates a procedural barrier: as a result, the investigation cannot proceed beyond this preliminary stage,” explained the EPPO in a statement.
‘Obstruction of justice’
“What MEPs have done today is tantamount to obstruction of justice of a criminal investigation. Parliamentary immunity is an important democratic safeguard to shield lawmakers from political persecution,” reacted Nick Aiossa, director at Transparency International EU.
“Where the facts could be laid bare, MEPs have chosen to hide them, once more suggesting that they will look out for their own, instead of promoting the just application of the law,” added Aiossa.
Niebler has described the fraud allegations brought by EU prosecutors as “unfounded” to Politico.
When asked by EUobserver, her office did not respond in time for publication.
Niebler is seen as the number two in the German centre-right in the European Parliament. She has been an MEP since 1999 and co-chairs the CSU delegation within the EPP — the same powerful political family led by German centre-right MEP Manfred Weber.
She also ranks among the highest outside-income earners in the entire Parliament, with estimated outside earnings at around €177,500 to €195,000 per year on top of her official, full-time MEP salary.
Among other extra-curricular earnings, she offers services to the law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, despite sitting in the parliament’s industry committee. Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP is registered under the EU transparency register.
The parliament’s legal affairs committee, of which Niebler is a deputy member, voted behind closed doors earlier in May against stripping her immunity.
But the protection of one of the most powerful MEPs within the European Parliament has also prompted an immediate backlash.
“Parliamentary immunity exists to protect democracy, not politicians from accountability,” said professor of EU law at HEC Paris and EUobserver columnist Alberto Alemmano on social media.
He said the vote is a case study of “how parliamentary immunity gets weaponised.”
In 2025, Marine Le Pen, the former leader of the far-right National Rally, was sentenced to five years’ ineligibility for misusing European public funds during her time as an MEP.
An appeals court is scheduled to issue its final verdict on her in July.
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German European People’s Party MEP Angelika Niebler (r) with Ursula von der Leyen (Source: European Parliament)
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Author Bio
Petra Pavlovičová is a reporter at EUobserver. She studied Political Sciences and Journalism in Brussels. She worked and gathered experience in Belgian daily press Le Soir, Slovak redaction of Dennik SME and in the Investigative Center of Jan Kuciak in Bratislava.
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