Career
In 1972 Stauner became qualified as an interpreter in English, French, and Russian. She took her first state law examination in 1977 and her second state law examination in 1979. In 1982 she received a doctorate in the field of law.
She worked as a trainee lawyer from 1977 to 1979 and as a civil servant of the Free State of Bavaria from 1979 to 1987, and in 1990.
From 1987 to 1990 she was an official of the foreign service of the Federal Republic of Germany. In 2000 she became Land vice-chairman of the Christian-Social Workers" Organisation.
She is also a lecturer at the University of Regensburg. During this time, she served on the Committee on Budgetary Control and the delegation to the European Union-Russia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee.
She also became well-known in the Parliament for her attacks on Commission secrecy over a fraud case involving the Fléchard dairy and abuse of European Union butter export subsidies worth tens of millions in the 1990s.
In 2001, she belonged to a cross-party grouping of MEPs, that brought a legal action before the European Court of Justice over the obstacles they faced in securing copies of classified European Union documents. She also was a substitute for the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, the delegation to the European Union-Russia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee, and the delegation to the European Union-Ukraine Parliamentary Cooperation Committee. In October 2013, Stauner returned to the European Parliament to take over from Anja Weisgerber who was elected to the German Bundestag.
In 2001, Stauner issued a statement through her office, saying she thought it was “ridiculous” that details of he financial interests should be put on the European Parliament"s website.
At the time, Swedish Member of the European Parliament Cecilia Malmström said: “lieutenant’s astonishing that is known for calling for more transparency, and has criticised the Commission a lot because of its lack of transparency. She should be setting a good example.”
During the Azerbaijani presidential elections in 2013, Stauner participated in a election monitoring delegation funded by the Berlin-based Society for the Promotion of German-Azerbaijani Relations (GEFDAB).
The organization is registered as a private company. The resulting report on Azerbaijan’s presidential election was subsequently criticized as markedly kinder than the verdict of the Organization for Security and Company-operation in Europe.