Transparency International EU and the undersigned organisations have submitted a letter to the president of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, on EPP MEP Angelika Niebler’s outside interests. We urge her to open an urgent investigation into the potential conflicts of interest outlined in the letter, available for download in the sidebar. Prof. Dr Niebler is the Shadow Rapporteur on the ITRE opinion in the European Parliament on the Corporate Sustainability and Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD). In particular, we note that:
- Prof. Dr Niebler declares a monthly income of €1001-€5000 each month from her side-job as a member of the Board of Trustees of the TÜV SÜD Foundation, a German-based company whose website reports that it “protects people, the environment and assets from technology-related risks.”TÜV SÜD is registered in the EU lobby transparency register and one of the files that it says that it is active on is the “Sustainability and due diligence law”.
- She also declares a side-job at the Munich office of the US law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, declaring receiving €1001-€5000 each month. The firm’s clients include some of the largest US corporations, such as Apple, Meta (formerly Facebook), Intel, Kraft, NBCUniversal and Walmart.
These outside activities bear a significant risk of interfering with her parliamentary work on the CSDDD. We are therefore asking the European Parliament’s Advisory Committee on the Code of Conduct for MEPs to investigate:
- The exact circumstances of Ms Niebler’s role with the TÜV SÜD Foundation and its links to the business TÜV SÜD
- The clients and interests of TÜV SÜD including its own EU influencing activities on the CSDDD or any other EU files worked on by Prof. Dr. Niebler
- The exact circumstances of Prof. Dr. Niebler’s side-job with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher including clients, topics worked on, the month to month nature of the work, as well as the contract of work
- The clients and interests of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher including any direct connection with the CSDDD or any other EU files worked on by Prof. Dr. Niebler
- The extent to which Prof. Dr. Niebler has declared these potential conflicts of interest or sought advice on them from European Parliament authorities
- The extent to which these side-jobs and Prof. Dr. Niebler’s amendments to the CSDDD represent direct conflicts of interest
- The extent of any wider conflicts of interest between Prof. Dr. Niebler’s work as an MEP and these paid side-jobs.
