Being free on Fridays is particularly attractive. A long weekend beckons. This applies to all employees - apparently also for many politicians in Germany. According to an evaluation of the 105 previous minutes of the 19 th German Bundestag, most members of parliament are missing on plenary sessions on Friday. This reports the "Bild am Sonntag".
According to the evaluation show that the closer the weekend moved, the more members of the Bundestag with Bundestag President Wolfgang Schäuble unsubscribed. While on Tuesday "only" 22 MPs were missing on average, there were already 27 on Wednesday, 31 already on Thursday and even 48 on Friday. On Monday, there are usually no plenary sessions.
Deputies do not have to name a reason for their absence. Whoever is missing without excuse will be deducted 200 euros from the tax-free parliamentary allowance. If you make an apology, it is 100 euros, with a certificate only 20 euros.
Sigmar Gabriel with the most days of absence
The highest rate of refusals has the left: 7.6 percent missing according to "BamS" at every plenary session. This is followed by the SPD (5.6%), AfD (5.3%), FDP (4.9%), the Greens (4.6%) and the Union of CDU and CSU (3.5%).
According to the evaluation, a prominent politician has taken the most days off: Sigmar Gabriel stayed on average more than every third plenary session. The former SPD chairman has been a guest lecturer at the elite Harvard University for two months and has meanwhile been on a reading tour for his book "The Turning of World Monuments."
Gabriel announced that he would consider resigning from his mandate. "I have to clarify in the summer, if I can remain in the Bundestag until the end of the legislature," said the 59-year-old loudly "Bams".
Note: In an earlier version of this article, we spoke of Members of Parliament as "employees of the Bundestag", of course they are "members of the Bundestag".