As of: February 29, 2024, 3:41 p.m
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A look at the Bundestag: The monthly compensation for members of parliament is adjusted annually.
© Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa
Salaries in Germany rose by 6.0 percent in 2023.
MPs' diets will also increase by this amount in July.
That's what the law says.
The Taxpayers' Association protests.
Berlin - The 736 members of the German Bundestag will receive a record diet increase of six percent in July, according to calculations by the Taxpayers' Association (BdSt).
There has not been such a high increase since 1995.
BdSt President Reiner Holznagel viewed this as critical and called for the automatic adjustment of MPs' salaries to be abolished.
The monthly MP compensation is adjusted annually on July 1st.
According to the law on representatives, the basis is the development of the nominal wage index.
The Federal Statistical Office reported this on Thursday as 6.0 percent.
As a result of the automatic linkage decided in 2014, MPs' salaries - and also MPs' pensions - will also increase by 6.0 percent.
The Taxpayers' Association calculated that the diets would be increased by 635.50 euros from the current 10,591.70 euros per month to 11,227.20 euros.
The Bundestag may well decide to waive this increase.
He did this, for example, in 2020 during the corona pandemic.
BdSt President Holznagel criticized: “With this fully automatic process, there is no discussion, no debate or declaration by the members of the Bundestag to the population.” The members of parliament necessarily decided on their own behalf.
“Transparency and more justification in the form of a proper legislative process are all the more important if the MPs want to decide on higher diets for themselves.” An automatism does not guarantee this and is not democratically worthy of the Bundestag.
dpa