The parliamentarians are representatives of the people, but not alone. They also represent the interests of health insurers, energy suppliers, banks or, for example, aid organizations. An evaluation by the Lobbywatch association now shows which national councilors have the most paid mandates from companies, associations or organizations. And which industries do most parliamentarians use for their purposes.
Since 2019, federal parliamentarians must disclose which of their mandates they receive money for and which they do not. How much they collect for the post, however, remains their secret.
Ruth Humbel in 1st place
With 21 paid mandates, Central National Councilor and health politician Ruth Humbel (65) leads the Lobbywatch rankings. She is a member of the board of directors of the health insurance company Concordia and the manager of the rehabilitation clinic Zurzach Care AG, as well as chairman of the supervisory board of the Vita Parcours foundation and a board member of the foundation for clinical cancer research.
FDP National Councilor Peter Schilliger (63) from Lucerne, who has 18 paid mandates, came in second. Graubündense FDP member of the Bundestag Martin Schmid (53), SVP Nationalrat Albert Rösti (55), FDP Nationalrat Beat Walti (53) and Obwaldner Mitte member of the Senate Erich Ettlin (60) have 16 paid positions.
Humbel himself opposes the portrayal of an official collector. She says she only has seven paid mandates. However, Lobbywatch adheres to its evaluation when requested. Unlike Humbel, the association counts each board or foundation board separately, including sub-companies. Humbel, for example, is on the board of directors of Concordia, Concordia Beteiligungen AG and the health insurance fund – the middle politician counts that as one mandate, Lobbywatch as three.
Big difference between left and right
According to Lobbywatch, 37 percent of parliamentarians’ mandates are compensated. SVP and Mitte have the highest paid mandates – regarding voluntary commitments. Members of those groups are financially compensated for 47 or 46 percent of all posts. For FDP parliamentarians 38 percent of the mandates are paid, for the GLP 33 percent. SP and Greens get only 25 and 23 percent respectively.
The analysis also concluded that male councilors have significantly more paid mandates than female ones. The 39 percent women in parliament hold only 29 of all paid positions. Only in the areas of culture, foreign policy/foreign trade and social security would women have more paid mandates than their male colleagues.
The share of paid posts is highest in the energy, business and agriculture sectors. In these sectors, financial compensation is paid for approximately six out of ten mandates. The share of paid jobs in the environment (18 percent), culture (8 percent) and foreign policy/trade (3 percent) is low.
Lobbywatch calls for more transparency
“For the first time, our analysis clearly shows that certain sectors can clearly invest significantly more money than others,” says Otto
Hostettler, Co-Chairman Lobbywatch. It also shows that middle-class politicians hold significantly more paid mandates than female parliamentarians on the left. From the point of view of the association, the existing transparency rules do not go far enough. He also demands that the amount of the compensation be disclosed.
Collecting officials is also an extremely controversial topic in federal Bern. Council of States Beat Rieder, of all people, proposed stricter rules in 2019. For example, health politicians should no longer accept paid mandates from companies and organizations in the health sector, he demands. After the first approval, the competent committee of the Council of States recently unanimously rejected the proposal. (lha)