Fewer MPs, Fatter Budgets: Bundestag Dodges Austerity Measures

While parliament counts 103 fewer members this legislative session, the coalition parties say they need more money for IT purposes.

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Seat of the Bundestag at the Reichstag Palace

CC BY-SA 3.0, A. Delesse (Prométhée), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

While parliament counts 103 fewer members this legislative session, the coalition parties say they need more money for IT purposes.

Even though Germany’s Bundestag has shrunk by 103 members, unsurprisingly, the parliament will keep almost the same budget as the previous legislative term. The current parliament now has 630 members, yet funding for parliamentary groups will remain at roughly the same levels, which means each group will have several million euros more than before, Bild reports.

Bundestag administrators initially proposed a 2025 budget of around €118 million for parliamentary groups, while the Budget Committee suggested €123 million. However, the CDU/CSU and SPD demanded a higher allocation of €137.8 million in a September 4 motion, citing increased needs for IT security, digitalization, artificial intelligence, and social media.

Overall spending for the Bundestag is expected to total €1.2 billion in 2025—about 16% higher than in 2023—despite the reduction in parliament’s size. Compared with last year, the budget has fallen by just €5 million, meaning the cost per member has risen from about €1.7 million to nearly €2 million annually, according to Apollo News.

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