Left boss sees a problem: Wissler criticizes Wagenknecht’s high additional income

Left boss sees a problem
Wissler criticizes Wagenknecht’s high additional income

3/22/2023 3:53 am

For the past year, member of the Bundestag Sahra Wagenknecht recorded 750,000 euros. Left boss Wissler is bothered by the high sum and the donors. Wagenknecht should focus more on their work as MPs, the party leader said.

Left leader Janine Wissler has criticized the high additional income of the former parliamentary group leader Sahra Wagenknecht. “When MPs have tens of thousands of euros in extra income and even take money from the Swiss financial industry, plus well-paid podiums and lectures in business, that’s a problem,” Wissler told the newspapers of the Funke media group.

Members of the Bundestag should do their work in parliament, in committees and in the constituency, and left-wing politicians should also be present at strikes and protests. “That has to be a priority, that also applies to Sahra Wagenknecht.”

Last year, Wagenknecht earned around 750,000 euros in book and speaking fees in addition to her parliamentary allowances, as was announced on Tuesday. Of this, however, a good 721,000 euros alone was the gross fee for her bestseller “The Self-Righteous” – a book in which she settled accounts with so-called lifestyle leftists and parts of her own party.

In addition to the book fee, payments from Burda Forward GmbH, Munich (EUR 6420 gross), from Swiss Rock Asset Management AG, Zurich (EUR 10,000 gross) and from the Efficiency Club Zurich (EUR 4042.42 gross) were also listed for the past year a cancellation fee from DekaBank (7735 euros gross).

The dispute between Wagenknecht and the party leadership over Wissler has come to a head since they announced that they would decide on founding their own party by the end of the year. Wagenknecht told ZDF: “I can also imagine a perspective as a writer and publicist.”