As the 2024 European Parliament election campaign begins, European conservatives are facing a potential political headache with a corruption probe looming over them. The investigation

centers around Mario Voigt, who was hired by Manfred Weber to run his digital campaign for the 2019 European election. Voigt now leads the center-right Christian Democratic Union in Thuringia's parliament, and the public prosecutor's office in Erfurt is investigating him over suspicion of corruption in business dealings.

Belgian police joined their German counterparts in a raid on the European People's Party (EPP) headquarters on Rue du Commerce in Brussels, looking for information about Voigt. The probe comes just months after the EPP went after its main political rival, the Socialists and Democrats group, over the Qatargate corruption scandal, where overwhelmingly center-left EU lawmakers are in focus for allegedly taking bribes from countries like Morocco and Qatar.

The EPP tweeted a flurry of invective, saying that "the holier-than-thou S&D group is at the epicenter" of the scandal, but now the tables have turned. An S&D official stated that "the feeling is that the EPP has been playing a bit dirty, and this is karma coming back to them."

In March 2019, Weber appointed Voigt as his digital campaign manager, responsible for online electioneering across the bloc. A company based in the Thuringian city of Jena was hired to handle the EPP's digital campaign, and one of the company's managing directors had formerly worked for the CDU in Thuringia, where he developed an app together with Voigt and others.

In early May 2022, the public prosecutor's office in Erfurt initiated an investigation, which included a request to the state parliament to lift Voigt's immunity after his name came up in an investigation into CDU Bundestag member Mark Hauptmann, who made money from mask deals during the COVID-19 pandemic. Hauptmann was probed over bribery, although that investigation was later dropped.

Erfurt investigators are following an initial suspicion that contract payments have been made from a company to Voigt. The EPP has sought to downplay Tuesday's raid, with a spokesperson stating that it was just police "visiting" the headquarters and that no EPP employees are being investigated.

The probe is currently focused on Voigt and seen as a "regional, German story." However, any official outcome from Brussels could take time, as Belgian authorities have yet to hand over any confiscated material to the German authorities. The investigation is likely to continue to loom over the EPP as the 2024 European Parliament election campaign gets underway.