Employment practices by the far-right Alternative for Germany’s (AfD) members of the state parliament in the country’s most populated state, North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), have come under scrutiny following allegations of nepotism in other states.
News magazine Der Spiegel reported on Friday that AfD state representative Klaus Esser had employed the 85-year-old wife of a fellow AfD member on a mini-job basis, which provides minimal tax-free income.
This is the latest in a series of recent reports about party members employing the relatives of fellow lawmakers that has resulted in increased scrutiny of the party.
Esser rejected the allegations when asked by dpa, saying he was doing something for the participation of “older people” in the workforce.
His employee was “mentally very fit” and works on small inquiries and applications from her home, he stressed.
“Society and parliament talk a lot about participation by older people — when you then put that into practice, it is suddenly supposed to be wrong,” Esser told dpa.
The elderly woman is married to an AfD member from the Sauerland region of NRW who no longer holds office in local politics.
Another AfD parlimentarian – Enxhi Seli-Zacharias – has employed the wife of a Duisburg AfD local politician on a mini-job basis for about three years, the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger newspaper reported.
Since the husband is not a lawmaker in the state parliament, Seli-Zacharias told dpa that she saw no problem in employing the woman.
A lawmaker may not employ the spouse of another lawmaker, according to NRW parliamentary rules, but this has not been violated, the spokesman for the state parliament said.
“Breaches of this rule are not known to the state parliament administration,” he said.
dpa
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