Bundestag forgoes automatic salary increase for members this year

The explanatory statement of the bill referred to the difficult economic and fiscal situation. Burdens on citizens, such as rents and fuel prices, were also cited as reasons that made an increase appear inappropriate this year. Under the Members of Parliament Act, the level of MPs' remuneration is oriented to the salaries of judges at the highest federal courts.

Justification: Economic situation and burdens

Jens Spahn argued in favour of suspending the increase. The measure is limited to this year on a one-off basis; the automatic adjustment mechanism remains in place in principle. This is intended to prevent remuneration from continuing to rise in a strained economic environment.

AfD demands abolition of the automatism

The AfD called for the automatic annual adjustment of MPs' remuneration to be scrapped entirely. In future, adjustments should again be made through a legislative process that ensures citizen participation and public scrutiny. This more far-reaching proposal, however, did not find a majority in the plenary.

Reactions in plenary

In the debate, AfD MP Stephan Brandner warned: „Im nächsten Jahr wollen sie wahrscheinlich einen richtig großen Schluck aus der Pulle nehmen." Tim Klüssendorf subsequently reminded him of the accusations of cronyism with which the AfD had been confronted some months earlier. In those cases, relatives of AfD politicians had been employed by other members of parliament; cases from Saxony-Anhalt, among others, had attracted attention.

Regarding the AfD's proposal to bind future adjustments more closely to citizens, it should be noted that the Basic Law does not provide for citizen participation in legislative processes. Oversight is exercised through the regular parliamentary procedure, with committee deliberations, plenary votes and the possibility of introducing motions.

By waiving the increase, the monthly remuneration of Bundestag members remains at 11,833 euros this year. The question of whether the automatic mechanism should be retained permanently or whether future adjustments should once again be decided politically is likely to be debated further in the Bundestag.