By Gunnar Schupelius
The SPD, the Greens and the Left put state secretaries into early retirement as the mood takes them in order to get top jobs for political friends. Like the RBB, the Senate is like a self-service shop, says Gunnar Schupelius.
In Berlin, there are more state secretaries in early retirement than ever before. In 2021, there were exactly 31 women and men who were already receiving a pension below retirement age, more than three times as many as in 2012.
This is what Finance State Secretary Jana Borkamp (Greens) said in response to a request from MP Jeannette Auricht (AfD). The early retirees drew their pensions even though they were fully able to work.
The sum of the paid early pensions in the period 2012 to 2021 amounts to a total of 6.773 million euros. This means that 752,564 euros of tax money is spent every year to pay 31 top civil servants who do not even work for it. They are also called “walkers” in official jargon.
Why does Berlin afford more and more expensive walkers? It’s a bad habit that’s spreading. State secretaries are so-called “political officials” at the top of the administration. They implement the guidelines of the senators.
If a new senator comes into office, he can send the incumbent state secretary into early retirement if he deems him politically unsuitable and appoint a new one.
State Secretary who was retired with full working capacity and below the pension limit: Jens-Holger Kirchner (Transport) Photo: Stefanie Herbst
This has always been a dubious practice at the expense of the general public. Recently, however, this practice has been taken to the extreme: When new senators came into office after the elections in autumn 2021, they also replaced state secretaries who were politically in line with them.
The best example of this is Transport Senator Bettina Jarasch (Greens). She took over the office from Regine Günther (Greens), who had hired three Green State Secretaries. Instead of taking on these three, Ms. Jarasch sent them into early retirement and hired three new ones, including their campaign manager, Markus Kamrad.
A total of ten state secretaries were sent into early retirement after the 2021 election, although the same parties continued to govern, i.e. the SPD, the Greens and the Left. The state secretaries were not replaced for political reasons, but for personal reasons.
A state secretary in the Berlin Senate receives a basic salary of EUR 10,515 gross per month. In early retirement, he receives the full salary for the first three months, then 71.75 percent of this salary for six months up to a maximum of three years. This is followed by the pension, the amount of which depends on the number of years of service, but which is at least 35 percent of the original 10,515 euros.
The Federal Constitutional Court has already ruled twice, in 2008 and 2018, on the wasteful treatment of the state secretaries: “The deviation from the lifetime principle associated with the possibility of being put on temporary retirement at any time is only permissible as long as the circle of political officials is narrowly limited.”
This circle is not limited in Berlin, it breaks through all borders. It doesn’t matter at all to the SPD, the Greens and the Left. You hire your buddies whatever you like, the bill goes to the taxpayer.
Is Gunnar Schupelius right? Call: 030/2591 73153 or email: [email protected]