Nepotism Scandal in AfD: Chancellor Friedrich Merz Announces Tightening of Regulations for MPs

The German political scene is grappling with a serious image crisis regarding ethical standards in parliament. Chancellor Friedrich Merz has officially admitted that he is considering introducing stricter legal regulations to curb the phenomenon of nepotism. The trigger has been reports of the systemic employment of relatives by politicians from the AfD faction. According to media reports, MPs from this party circumvent the ban on employing their own family members by signing contracts with the relatives of their party colleagues, a practice referred to as “cross-hiring”. Organizations such as Transparency International point to the urgent need to close loopholes in the Abgeordnetengesetz (Members of Parliament Act). The current system allows for taxpayer-funded positions for people connected to politicians, which Jens Spahn of the CDU described as creating fictitious jobs. Meanwhile, Markus Söder, leader of the CSU, compared the employment structures in the AfD to clan organizations, which provoked a sharp reaction from the accused party. Within the AfD itself, tensions are also rising; in Saxony-Anhalt, some members are demanding an extraordinary party congress to clarify the affair. Scandals related to the use of parliamentary allowances for family purposes periodically resurface in German politics. The most famous case was the so-called relatives affair in Bavaria in 2013, which led to the resignation of several ministers and forced a drastic tightening of regulations in the state parliament there. Simultaneously, a wave of criticism has hit the leader of the Die Linke faction, Heidi Reichinnek. The reason was a recording showing the politician using a luxury Audi A8 model. This sparked a debate about the hypocrisy of the left, which publicly advocates for taxing the wealthy and fighting privileges, while its representatives use prestigious symbols of power. The party defends itself, claiming that the vehicle is a leased company car used by many faction members in accordance with their entitlements. 100 000 € — is the list price of the Audi A8 that caused the storm around the left-wing leader This situation reveals a deep divide in the perception of parliamentary ethics. While mainstream parties seek to legislatively tighten the system, radical parties accuse each other of applying double standards. The outcome of these disputes could significantly impact the upcoming local elections in five German federal states.