Controversial German political party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) has submitted a motion to the Bundestag asking to set up a working group around integrating members of the parliament into the statutory pension insurance scheme.

According to the Bundestag website, the motion calls for a working group to draft a bill by the end of the year. The bill will look to restructure the pension scheme of MEPs. The AfD wants to ensure ‘an adequate pension on the whole’ while being efficient, transparent, and practical.

The seven-page motion, available here, was submitted by Ulrike Schielke-Ziesing, René Springer, Gerrit Huy, Norbert Kleinwächter, Jürgen Pohl, Hannes Gnauck, and the AfD parliamentary group.

The motion refers to growing disenchantment with the German state.

It reads, in part: “The common accusation that members of the Bundestag are careful to ensure that they are comfortably supported by the taxpayer often also refers to the pensions to which members of parliament are entitled as a result of their membership of the German Bundestag. The vast majority of citizens are insured under the statutory pension scheme. This has now fallen to a security level of less than 50 per cent, meaning that the previous standard of living in retirement can only be maintained with other sources of income.”

It goes on: “In contrast, the old-age allowance for members of the German Bundestag provides members of the Bundestag with a generous pension compared to the pension entitlements of citizens through a pension-like system.”

The motion calls it a matter of ‘social justice’ for members of parliament to be included in the same scheme as normal citizens, saying that for a single four-year term, MPs are entitled to a monthly pension of €1,032 — an amount it says is seven times that of a person with average salary insured under the statutory pension scheme.

Among the solutions for this, says the motion, are the restructuring of the pension scheme and the integration of this into the statutory pension model. Overall, it says that the future pension scheme for members of the Bundestag should be structured to guarantee an adequate pension, ensure the independence of politicians, continue to be efficient, be transparent, and be organised practically.

What is important to note is how close the AfD is to having serious power in Germany, despite firestorms of controversy over its far-right positions. Some polls place it second in the upcoming federal elections, indicating that the party could be a kingmaker during potential coalition talks.

In January, the journalism organisation Correctiv revealed that factions of the AfD had organised a conference on the outskirts of Berlin in November 2023 where the topic of mass deportations of millions of ‘non-Germans’ was openly discussed.

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