The Bundestag will freeze this year’s planned €500 annual pay rise for its 630 members, the coalition of CDU/CSU and SPD announced on Tuesday, sending a “savings signal” to voters amid strained public finances. A draft law to cancel the July 1 increase is to be tabled this week, the parties said, after weeks of internal debate and cross-party pressure.
The move follows warnings from Finance Minister and SPD Vice-Chancellor Lars Klingbeil that Germany’s social-security system faces a widening funding gap by 2027, and from Health Minister Karl Lauterbach that health-insurance deficits could exceed €10bn unless spending is reined in. “In these economically difficult times, every euro counts,” said CDU budget spokesman Eckhardt Rehberg. SPD parliamentary leader Rolf Mützenich called the freeze “a clear sign of solidarity with citizens who are tightening their belts.”
Opposition parties had already criticised the planned raise as out of touch. The AfD’s Bernd Baumann said the €500 hike would be “a slap in the face for taxpayers,” while the Left’s Amira Mohamed Ali demanded deeper cuts to parliamentary perks. Both parties abstained when the Bundestag’s presidium approved the freeze on Tuesday morning.
The freeze does not affect MPs’ base salary of €10,323 per month, which is indexed to civil-service pay scales. It only suspends the automatic annual adjustment that would have added €498 from July. The Bundestag’s administrative director, Lorenz Müller-Franken, said the chamber would save €313,000 in 2026, a fraction of the federal budget but a symbolic gesture.
Trade unions welcomed the decision but pressed for broader reforms. “Politicians must show the same discipline they demand from citizens,” said DGB chair Yasmin Fahimi. The Confederation of German Employers’ Associations (BDA) called the freeze “a first step,” urging the coalition to tackle rising health-care costs and infrastructure bottlenecks that are blocking €12bn in planned investments.
The freeze comes as the government prepares a July 1 summit with unions and employers to build support for deeper reforms. Jens Spahn, deputy leader of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, warned that “sitting on the sofa of maximalist positions” would not solve Germany’s growth and competitiveness crisis. The coalition aims to agree a reform package by early July, including measures to stabilise health-insurance finances and accelerate digital infrastructure projects.