Income up to 3.5 million
Which MEPs earn the most
6/6/2023 4:17 am
Recently, members of parliament have to state their additional income down to the last cent. Despite some distortions, the list makes it clear in which factions the politicians with the most profitable additional jobs sit.
Since the beginning of the legislative period, more than a third of the members of the Bundestag from the CDU/CSU and FDP have achieved additional income in the five-digit range. As can be seen from an evaluation by “Spiegel” and the transparency initiative “Membership Watch”, in the period from November 1, 2021 to March 31, 2023, 38 percent of the FDP deputies and 31 percent of the parliamentarians of the Union earned more than 10,000 euros.
According to this, CSU politician Sebastian Brehm has had the highest income since November 2021 with 3.5 million euros from his work as a tax consultant, followed by FDP MP Markus Herbrand (3.3 million). Since a change in the law passed in 2021, members of the Bundestag have had to state ancillary income down to the last cent if it exceeds 1,000 euros a month or 3,000 euros a year. However, in the published data, no distinction is made between sales – for example from law firms or agricultural businesses – and income such as book fees.
“Makes comparability difficult”
The SPD politician Nezahat Baradari, a paediatrician, also achieved high sales. With income of 534,007.86 euros, she is the top earner in her group. From the money she employs seven people, including three specialists, has running costs and loan repayments, she told the magazine. She has hired a specialist in child and adolescent medicine so that her practice can continue while she sits in the Bundestag. The fact that she has to state sales instead of profits “makes comparability a little more difficult”.
In other parliamentary groups, the proportion of MPs with more than 10,000 euros in additional income is significantly lower than in the Union and Liberals, according to “Spiegel” and MPs Watch: in the SPD it was 20 percent, in the AfD 15 percent, behind them are the parliamentary groups of the Left Party ( 11.9 percent) and Greens (10.9 percent). According to the Members of Parliament Act, additional income for members of the Bundestag is generally permitted – provided that the Bundestag mandate remains “the focus of the activity”.