18/05/2026
When parliamentary immunity shields elected officials from legitimate law enforcement, it stops being a democratic safeguard and becomes a democratic problem.
That’s why The Good Lobby, alongside Transparency International EU, Corporate Europe Observatory, and LobbyControl, has written to Members of the European Parliament ahead of tomorrow’s plenary vote on report 2025/2175(IMM), urging them to allow the waiver of immunity of MEP Angelika Niebler so that the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) can proceed with its investigation.
The EPPO (the EU’s independent anti-fraud prosecutor) submitted its request in July 2025, following evidence that Ms Niebler allegedly used EU-funded parliamentary assistants for private purposes, including personal travel and CSU party appointments unrelated to her mandate as an MEP. This is not a minor procedural matter: it goes to the heart of how public money is spent, and who is held accountable when it isn’t.
Parliamentary immunity exists to protect MEPs from politically motivated persecution, not to place them above the law. Voting to lift immunity is not a guilty verdict; it is simply what allows a proper, independent investigation to take place. The EPPO’s mandate is to protect EU taxpayers’ money. MEPs should let it.