She was not elected however, and finished in third place, behind Sebastian A.A. Leslie of the Conservatives and Andrew Welsh of the Scottish National Party.

[3] She served as the Deputy Leader of the EPLP and held positions as Labour's Euro spokesperson on health and fisheries.

Stihler was Labour's Euro-Spokesperson on Consumer Rights and was the only Scottish MEP on the economic and monetary affairs committee.

Her seat was left vacant and not filled by the Scottish Labour Party due to the UK's [then] impending exit from The EU on 29 March 2019.

In November 2018, Stihler was appointed as the new Chief Executive Officer of Open Knowledge Foundation.