Only a quarter of the members of the National Council are involved in politics full-time, the majority earn additional income from outside activities. In the previous year, the National Council became richer due to a few top earners: Twelve members of parliament earned more than 12,000 euros per month in 2022 – in addition to their state income.
That is five top earners more than in 2021. Another eleven agents have reported an additional income of more than 8,000 euros, according to the transparency reports published on Friday.
A total of 1151 ancillary positions
A total of 180 National Council members (three are still yet to report for 2022) have currently reported 1151 outside activities, according to an APA review of Parliament’s transparency data. Most of them are volunteers. The members of parliament receive 9,872.60 euros gross per month from the state for their work. Three-quarters of the MPs also have one or more paid additional positions (see graph below).
The deputies need not fear a real salary striptease for their private side jobs. They only need to disclose estimated income once a year. The deadline for this expired on Friday.
Most top earners in the ÖVP
Christian Stocker – lawyer, deputy mayor of Wiener Neustadt and secretary general of the ÖVP since September 2022 – and his club colleague Axel Melchior have risen to the highest income category. Melchior worked at the ÖVP party headquarters until the end of 2021 and moved to the IGO Industries of former ÖVP chief donor Klaus Ortner in 2022. NEOS MP Michael Bernhard also exceeded 12,000 euros as director of the call center company ‘global office’. Since 2019, Bernhard has moved from income category 2 (then less than 3,500 euros) to top category 5 (more than 12,000 euros). FPÖ deputy and civil-law notary Volker Reifenberger and ÖVP mandatary and doctor Werner Saxinger have also risen to the highest income category.
In total, twelve agents reported incomes of more than 12,000 euros last year – six of them from the ÖVP, four from the FPÖ and two from the NEOS. At the other end of the scale are 47 MPs with no paid part-time work. Another 36 have only reported low incomes of up to 1150 euros, as many have earned up to 4000 euros gross per month. 38 MPs fall into the category up to 8,000 euros. And eleven mandataries reported incomes of up to 12,000 euros per month last year.
Information is not checked
However, the information is not checked. Parliament bases this on the information provided by the mandate holders. “We provide the platform,” says the parliamentary directorate: “It is the responsibility of the mandate holders to fill the platform correctly.” Parliament has no supervisory powers.
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
