Party auditors of the Greens object to corona bonuses and special payments that were paid to party leaders Annalena Baerbock and Robert Habeck as well as other members of the federal executive committee.

This emerges from a report by the committee, which is available to the dpa news agency.

According to Federal Treasurer Marc Urbatsch, who is a member of the committee, the federal board has already decided to abolish the special payments for board members.

This also applies to the current budget year.

"In view of the auditors' criticism that has now been presented, the board members will also repay the corona bonus to the party," said Urbatsch.

"This also applies to the portion of the 2019 Christmas bonus criticized in the test report."

Corona bonus capped at 300 euros

All employees of the Greens federal office received the corona bonus of 1500 euros per person last winter.

He was supposed to compensate for the stresses caused by working in the home office and the renovation of the building.

The bonus was also paid to the six members of the federal executive committee, which, according to the auditors, was not covered by the party’s internal regulations.

“In fact, only the 300 euros stipulated by the collective agreement were covered.” The Federal Finance Council, which includes federal treasurers as well as delegates from the regional associations, noted that “because a financial regulation should not be made by the beneficiaries alone”.

In the case of the board of directors, the auditors also complain about a special payment in 2019, which was justified, among other things, with the good election result in the European elections.

According to party rules, this was only allowed to be paid out to 82.14 percent.

It's not the first time that the extra payments have caused trouble.

Baerbock, who is not only the head of the Greens but also a member of the Bundestag, belatedly reported special payments for the years 2018 to 2020 in the amount of 25,220.28 euros to the parliamentary administration in March.

This later became known and was one in a series of mistakes that overshadowed the Green Chancellor candidate's campaign.