had displayed openly misogynistic, sexist, and racist behaviour towards their female fellow students and that the Ministry of the Interior had remained inactive despite knowledge of the matter (the so-called "Whatsapp affair"). As a result of the revelations, one police student was refused entry into the service. In addition, the head of the academy had been replaced in what was claimed to be no more than a routine rotation of posts. A committee of inquiry is currently investigating the case. In autumn 2016 Breyer became the Pirate Party of Schleswig-Holstein's leading candidate in the state elections. In December 2016 and February 2017, in the state parliament, Breyer criticized the fact that the heads of the state audit office and the state constitutional court had been appointed by the other parties without a public invitation to tender according to party proportional representation. The president of the state parliament called him to order and instructed him to withdraw his speech. In order to defend his right to criticize what he called "job pushing", Breyer called in the State Constitutional Court. The court declared the call to order unconstitutional on 17 May 2017. On 27 March 2017 Breyer was awarded the Horst Lütje Foundation's "Backbone Prize", endowed with 1,000 Euros, for his efforts. In May 2017, Breyer uncovered accusations by criminal investigators that exculpatory statements in criminal proceedings against "rockers" had been suppressed and bullying had been used in response to criticism (the so-called "Rocker Affair"). As a result of the revelations, the head of the police department in the Ministry of the Interior as well as the heads of the state criminal investigation department and the state police office were obliged to resign. A parliamentary committee of inquiry is currently investigating the case. In the 2017 state elections the Pirate Party failed to win any seats in the state parliament. With 1.2% of the vote it scored seven percentage points less than five years earlier. This ended Breyer's mandate. As a representative of the "People's Initiative for Co-Determination", Breyer handed more than 20,000 citizens' signatures to the state parliament in December 2017. In May 2018 Breyer, as a representative of the "People's Initiative for the Protection of Water", which demands a legal ban on fracking, delivered more than 42,000 citizens' signatures to the President of the State Parliament. European elections 2019 In the 2019 European Parliament election in Germany Breyer was the