Overview
- MEPs voted 309–283 with 53 abstentions in a secret ballot Tuesday to keep CSU politician Angelika Niebler’s immunity, which stops EU prosecutors from pursuing the case for now.
- EU prosecutors had sought to examine alleged false travel reimbursements and claims that EU‑paid assistants handled private errands, including one aide reported to have worked only for former MEP Bernd Posselt.
- Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee urged rejection on May 5, casting the whistleblower’s motive as political and faulting the file’s precision, and it heard only Niebler according to multiple reports.
- Greens MEP Daniel Freund called the result a blow to the Parliament’s credibility and to whistleblower protection, while liberals questioned the process and the weight given to the committee’s advice.
- Without the waiver, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office cannot proceed unless it asks the EU’s top court to intervene, and Niebler denies the accusations and has reserved possible legal steps against media coverage.