Against the background of the continued growth of the Bundestag, the President of the Taxpayers' Association, Reiner Holznagel, has criticized the construction of a new parliament building.
The construction of the “Luisenblock West” office building, which cost 70 million euros, shows “what consequences the messed up voting rights have for taxpayers,” Holznagel told the newspapers of the Funke media group on Sunday.
The building made of prefabricated wooden modules is due to be completed in December.
"With a reasonable right to vote and a Bundestag with a target size of 598 or fewer MPs, this new building would not have been necessary," said Holznagel.
The new "XXL Bundestag" ensures that the government district becomes an "XXL permanent construction site".
410 million euros additional costs
The background to his criticism is a calculation by the taxpayers' association, according to which the future Bundestag with 735 members will cost 410 million euros more in the coming electoral period than a parliament with the statutory standard size of 598 seats.
According to the report, only the active mandate-related costs were taken into account.
In the last legislative period, the Bundestag, with 709 members, was well above the norm and, according to the calculation, caused a good 332 million euros in additional costs.
Now the parliament is growing by a further 26 members.
According to the taxpayers' federal government, these will incur additional costs of almost 78 million euros in the next legislature.