Many members of the Bundestag have additional income in addition to their diets. These are particularly lavish for parliamentarians from the Union and FDP. The leader is a CSU politician.
Around a third of the members of the Bundestag from the CDU/CSU and FDP have earned additional income in the five-figure range since the beginning of the legislative period. According to an evaluation by the transparency initiative “Membership Watch” and “Spiegel”, in the period from November 1, 2021 to March 31, 2023, 38 percent of the FDP MPs and 31 percent of the parliamentarians of the Union earned more than 10,000 euros.
Additional income is generally permitted
The CSU politician Sebastian Brehm has had the highest income since November 2021 with 3.5 million euros from his work as a tax consultant, followed by FDP MP Markus Herbrand (3.3 million). Since a change in the law passed in 2021, members of the Bundestag have had to state ancillary income down to the last cent if it exceeds 1,000 euros a month or 3,000 euros a year. However, in the published data, no distinction is made between sales – for example from law firms or farms – and income such as book fees.
In other parliamentary groups, the proportion of MPs with more than 10,000 euros in additional income, according to “Spiegel” and MPs Watch, is significantly lower than in the Union and Liberals: in the SPD it was 20 percent, in the AfD 15 percent, behind them are the parliamentary groups of the Left Party ( 11.9 percent) and Greens (10.9 percent).
According to the Members of the Bundestag Act, additional income for members of the Bundestag is generally permitted, provided that the Bundestag mandate remains “the focus of the activity”.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
