Price explosion for all – salary increase for a few: politicians treat themselves to a 606 euro salary bonus

You're sitting unsuspectingly at the kitchen table, typing the next calculation into your calculator, wondering how you're going to manage financially for the coming month – and then you find out: Members of the Bundestag are increasing their salaries by a whopping €606 per month. Passed without resistance, in 20 minutes. Oh my goodness. They keep doing it.

A well-known classic is currently hiding in the Bundestag – well camouflaged among several agenda items: the motion by the CDU/CSU and SPD to "adjust MPs' compensation." It sounds dry, but it's juicy – ​​it's once again about the salary increase, which MPs have to approve, including the procedure by which this happens automatically. A constant source of irritation, it was therefore prudently postponed until the afternoon. In the hope that as few people as possible will pay attention. Spoiler alert: it never works.

Because it's not about a few symbolic euros – it's about record figures. Last year, MPs were already delighted with a substantial increase of six percent : €11,227.20 gross per month, plus a tax-free allowance, plus a railcard, plus a flat-rate equipment allowance. Now, another 5.4 percent is to be added – or around €606 extra per month. That would bring the total to almost €12,000.

It's enough to make you dizzy—not with excitement, but with the speed with which your salary is being increased. While many people are counting every penny they spend while shopping, MPs in Parliament are handed a pay increase.

A generous diet boost: What parallel universe do they actually live in?

All this is called the salary automatism. A mechanism that has ensured that politicians' salaries are adjusted annually since 2014, based on wage trends. It's a bit like the thermostat in your underfloor heating system, which adjusts to all temperatures, without regulation, just like that.

The Taxpayers' Association has been criticizing this system for years as "no longer acceptable." And they're right! The message is simply devastating. While parliamentarians are improving their financial situation based on the wage index, people in the country are asking: What parallel universe are they actually living in?

Many people are struggling with exploding rents, rising prices

Meanwhile, many people are struggling with exploding rents, rising food prices, job insecurity, a nursing shortage , failing schools, and a public transport system that only knows the word "reliability" from stories. An additional €606 per month is something many can only dream of. It's roughly equivalent to the monthly grocery shopping for a family of four, the utility costs of a small apartment, or a large medical bill.

The current outcry in parliament, including from the Left Party, is therefore justified, but also a little hypocritical. Co-group leader Heidi Reichinnek is "horrified," saying: "We categorically reject this salary increase and the automatic mechanism." She continues: "It cannot be that the same parliamentarians who refuse to raise the minimum wage to a poverty-proof level of 15 euros simultaneously have no problem increasing their own salaries by 606 euros." She's right—but apparently she doesn't want to shake up the automatic mechanism either. Instead, she's announced that she'll "donate more." Donate instead of stopping? Sounds nice. But the taxpayer, who foots the bill, doesn't benefit from it either.

No! It's high time to end this automatic increase. Not because MPs shouldn't earn well – but because democracy needs debate and politics needs a reality check. An automatic increase creates distance. And it reinforces precisely the feeling many people feel today: "Those at the top do what they want anyway and line their own pockets." Anyone who still talks about "trust in politics" at the lectern should first explain why their salary is increasing without social oversight.

Increasing salaries is a very wrong signal in these times

And let's be honest: What would actually be so bad about not increasing salaries for once? Or if they were only increased after a public debate, with cameras, ballots, and a declaration from each individual? Is that too much to ask of those who otherwise like to preach transparency?

While politicians admonish citizens to save energy and generally exercise fiscal prudence – always citing "hard times" – they are simultaneously sending the wrong message: They themselves are grabbing generously. And they do so in an almost ritualistic manner – quietly, quickly, and as inconspicuously as possible. As if no one would notice. But every year, this tactic backfires. Why? Because salary increases remain a controversial topic – especially at a time when many people no longer know how to pay their bills.