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Die Linke Votes Binding €5,300 Pay Cap for Its MPs

The decision directs most excess pay into party social funds while state branches must draw up the detailed rules before the next federal and European elections.

Overview

  • Delegates voted on Sunday, June 21, 2026, to approve a binding gross pay cap of €5,300 for the party’s Bundestag and European Parliament members with 65.5 percent support.
  • The cap is tied to the public-sector pay scale and equals about €3,300 net for a single earner, compared with the current Bundestag salary of roughly €11,833 gross per month.
  • The resolution requires most of the difference above €5,300 to be paid into party-linked social funds and asks state branches to create the rules that will put that transfer into practice.
  • The text allows targeted exceptions and extra payments for MPs with children, approved care needs, or special financial burdens to avoid one-size-fits-all hardship.
  • The vote follows weeks of internal debate and a letter from parts of the parliamentary group opposing the timing, and it makes the rule an internal party obligation rather than a change to public pay law.