Legal doubts have been raised regarding the constitutionality of a proposed salary cap for members of the Linke faction in the Bundestag. According to reports, the Scientific Services of the Bundestag published a legal opinion questioning the feasibility of such a restriction.
The Linke co-chairs, Jan van Aken and Ines Schwerdtner, have put forward a proposal that would cap their parliamentary members’ monthly salaries at the German average wage of €2,850 net. This measure is scheduled for a vote at the upcoming party congress in June, but it has met with significant internal opposition within the party fraction.
The legal opinion was commissioned by Linke member Michael Arndt. While the report concluded that a mandatory salary cap model is probably permissible in principle, it cautions that the proposed level is dangerously low. The opinion referenced the Members of Parliament Act (Abgeordnetengesetz), noting that a salary level falling below half of a member’s statutory compensation threatens their fundamental right to existence and, crucially, their professional independence.
Specifically, the report stated that if the proposed €2,850 ceiling were enforced, the resulting compensation would be less than half of the legally entitled €11,833.47, rendering the design unlawful.
Arndt interpreted the findings as unequivocal. Although the Scientific Service did not specify a minimum compensation standard, it emphasized that a member’s remuneration must reflect the dignity of the office and therefore must lie significantly above the mere subsistence level. Arndt informed the news magazine that the party’s proposal, which bases the minimum on the limits of garnishment, was therefore “clearly unconstitutional”.
Arndt also warned that the debate surrounding the salary cap has severely hampered the Linke party’s work over recent months, unnecessarily deepening the rift between the party and the faction, and risking the overshadowing of vital policy debates at the upcoming congress.
