You're reading: Merkel challenger under fire for saying chancellor underpaid

BERLIN - Chancellor candidate Peer Steinbrueck was widely criticised on Sunday, even by his own centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), for saying German leaders were underpaid.

Steinbrueck has struggled to gain ground against Chancellor
Angela Merkel ahead of next September’s election, in part due to
lingering criticism over him earning 1.25 million euros ($1.65
million) as an after-dinner speaker in the past three years.

The remarks from the former finance minister about what he
called the inadequate compensation for the chancellor drew
speedy rebukes across the country’s political spectrum,
including from the last SPD chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

“A German chancellor does not earn enough based on the
performance that is required of her or him compared with the
jobs of others who have far less responsibility and far more
pay,” Steinbrueck, 65, was quoted on Sunday by the Frankfurter
Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung newspaper saying.

“Nearly every savings bank director in North
Rhine-Westphalia earns more than the chancellor does,”
Steinbrueck said of his home state.

Merkel’s pay is set to rise by 930 euros per month to 17,106
euros in 2013 along with pay rises for her ministers and members
of parliament, increases that have been criticised by some for
sending the wrong signal in an era of austerity.

“Some of the debates kicked up by the ‘guardians of public
virtue’ are grotesque and are harmful for anyone considering
getting involved in politics,” Steinbrueck said.

ELECTION

The SPD trails Merkel’s conservatives by 10 points in
opinion polls, but, with its Greens allies, it does have a
chance of winning power in September because of the prolonged
weakness of Merkel’s Free Democrat (FDP) coalition partners.

Steinbrueck, whose blunt talk makes him popular among some
voters despite him never winning a major election and him being
defeated as state premier in North Rhine-Westphalia in 2005,
said there were times in his career when he was not as well off
and admitted he was now a “wealthy Social Democrat”.

Schroeder, chancellor from 1998 to 2005, has endorsed
Steinbrueck to lead his party against Merkel but distanced
himself from Steinbrueck’s views on pay.

“In my view politicians in Germany are adequately
compensated,” Schroeder told Bild am Sonntag newspaper. “I was
certainly always able to live off the pay. And anyone who
doesn’t feel it’s enough pay can always look for another job.”

Other SPD leaders indirectly criticised Steinbrueck. Dieter
Wiefelspuetz, a top SPD member of parliament, said politicians
were misguided if they compared their wages to private industry.

“To serve as chancellor is a fascinating job and the pay is
definitely not shabby,” he said.

Steinbrueck was once seen as the centre left’s best hope of
winning back the chancellorship. He was popular as the
no-nonsense finance minister and the SPD hoped he would siphon
centrist voters away from the conservatives.

But the controversy over his earning 1.25 million euros for
89 speeches will not go away and his campaign has been marred by
setbacks and awkward comments.

Analysts say he is also struggling to win over female
voters, many of whom are put off by his combative style.

“Merkel is popular due to a ‘woman’s bonus’ that she gets,”
Steinbrueck told the paper.