German lawmakers' second incomes under scrutiny
January 25, 2018
Of the 709 parliamentarians in Germany's lower house, the Bundestag, 41 have a second paid job, the Süddeutsche Zeitung daily reported on Thursday.
Citing partially declared figures from the independent website "Lawmaker Watch" (abgeordnetenwatch.de) which collects and publishes data on German politicians, the newspaper said 220 politicians declared having a voluntary job in addition to their parliamentary responsibilities.
The figures came to light three months after the Bundestag reconvened following Germany's September 24 national elections, and as the country remains without a new government while coalition negotiations between Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives and the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) advance.
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And the top earners are...
The Süddeutsche Zeitung reported Hans Michelbach of the Bavaria-based Christian Social Union (CSU), the sister party to Merkel's Christian Democrats, declared the highest second income, at more than €250,000 ($310,000) per annum.
Michelbach is the owner and partner of the MIBEG group of companies, a private education provider.
He was followed by Uwe Kamann from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, who as managing director of the Aachen-based consulting firm so: cas GmbH, declared between €135,000 and €220,000 in additional earnings.
In third place was the business-focused Free Democrats (FDP) politician Reinhard Houben, who declared between €43,000 and €90,000 as managing partner of Arnold Houben GmbH, a Cologne-based lighting supplier.
The earnings are in addition to their parliamentary pay of €9,541 per month.
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Declarations mandatory
Bundestag rules require politicians to declare their additional earnings over €1,000 according to one of 10 income bands. Band 1 corresponds to an income of more than €1000 to €3500, while band 10 corresponds to an income of more than €250,000.
Lawmakers are required to declare their additional incomes within three months of acquiring membership of the Bundestag.
Süddeutsche Zeitung reported that politicians from the center-right Christian Democrats and their Bavarian allies, the CSU, led the chart of politicians with second incomes followed by the FDP and AfD, the SPD and Left parties. No parliamentarian from the Green Party reported having additional earnings.
The Bundestag's administration team told the paper that the number of lawmakers with second incomes could be higher, as not all declarations had been processed.