Christine Lambrecht asked for her resignation as Minister of Defense on Monday. But the politician doesn’t have to worry even if she doesn’t have a job. After her resignation, the SPD politician collects a lot of money.
The rules are the same for all federal ministers: anyone who is in office for just one day receives a substantial transitional allowance. According to the taxpayers’ association, that’s around 75,660 euros, depending on the length of the tenure, this sum can rise to 227,000 euros. Christine Lambrecht should get a similar amount when she leaves office.
The SPD politician is entitled to three full months’ salary after the end of her term of office. At 16,614 euros per month, this results in a total of 49,842 euros. After that, half the salary is available to her for a further 21 months, resulting in 174,447 euros. A total of almost 224,000 euros – from the taxpayer.
There is one exception: If Lambrecht starts a new job, the salary will be offset against your salary. The taxpayers’ association has long been calling for the phase of the transitional benefit to be reduced to one year.
In addition, there is a lavish pension for the 57-year-old: Previously, the SPD politician had been Minister of Justice in the last Merkel cabinet since June 2019 and also briefly took over the Ministry of Family Affairs. If Lambrecht retires on her sixtieth birthday in two years, she will receive almost 4,000 euros including deductions. If Lambrecht, as prescribed for civil servants, only retires at the age of 67, there are around 4,600 euros a month.
Note: In a previous version, the reduction in pension in the event of early retirement was not taken into account. We have corrected the incorrect sum in the article.
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