Overview
- The Interior Ministry, which replaced the salary table Monday, limited the chancellor’s rise to about €773 a month and ministers to €618 after dropping outsized increases for the top civil-service grade.
- The first draft had lifted the B11 pay band so sharply that it would have meant roughly €60,000 more per year for the chancellor and €50,000 for ministers, a jump the ministry now says was never intended.
- Because ministers’ and the chancellor’s salaries are legally tied to the highest civil-service grade, any big move at B11 would flow to political leaders unless the law blocks it.
- Federal costs for the wider reform remain steep at about €3.4 billion in 2026 and €3.5 billion in 2027, and the corrected bill still needs cabinet sign-off and a Bundestag vote.
- States face large liabilities and back-pay, with Brandenburg estimating €300–€600 million more each year plus a one-off €400–€700 million, while debate grows over a shift from a single-earner model to calculations using 80% of median income and assumed partner earnings.