As of: February 20, 2024, 7:16 p.m
By: Julia Stanton
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Although members of the Bundestag do not pay pension contributions, they are entitled to a pension: and this is significantly higher than for most German employees.
Berlin – Many employees find retirement planning a headache even before they retire.
The pension contributions are high and the pension itself is not sufficient for many.
Members of the Bundestag have it easier: they do not pay statutory pension insurance contributions, but are still entitled to the pension.
In 1981 it was decided that MPs would not pay into the pension scheme in order to guarantee their independence.
In order to ensure that politicians have adequate retirement provision, they instead receive a so-called retirement allowance.
And it's not too tight.
Pension for members of the Bundestag: retirement benefits increase with each person
This old-age allowance amounts to 2.5 percent of income, also known as parliamentary allowance.
According to the German Bundestag website, members of parliament are entitled to it after just one year of membership.
With each year of membership, the percentage increases by an additional 2.5 percent.
The maximum claim is 65 percent of income, which would be achieved after 26 years of membership.
A claim that only a few MPs achieve.
Members of the Bundestag do not pay into the pension fund and are instead entitled to so-called old-age compensation.
(Symbolic image) © Jörg Carstensen/dpa
However, even after a shorter membership, there is a significant retirement benefit.
This is shown by a simple calculation example: According to the Bundestag website, all members of the Bundestag currently (as of February 2024) earn a monthly salary of 10,591.70 euros, subject to income tax.
After one year of membership, a pension entitlement of 264.80 euros per month would arise.
After a four-year term in the Bundestag, this would already be 1,059.00 euros per month.
With an eight-year term of office, the monthly cost would be 2,118 euros.
For comparison: According to the German Pension Insurance Pension Atlas 2023, the pension (payment amount) was on average 1,384 euros per month at the end of 2022 - provided pensioners had at least 35 years of insurance.
For most people in Germany, the pension is much lower than 2,000 euros.
Left-wing politician Dietmar Bartsch criticizes pension regulations for members of the Bundestag
Recently, the former left-wing politician Dietmar Bartsch criticized this inequality in a speech in the Bundestag.
He called for a revision of the regulations and demanded that MPs should also be obliged to pay into the pension fund.
Despite the planned increase in pensions in 2024, old-age poverty remains a growing problem in Germany.
Last year the number of poor pensioners rose significantly.
Many people need additional income in addition to the statutory pension insurance.
Experts warn against further inaction when it comes to pension provision and are calling for both statutory and private pension provision to be reformed.
(jus)