Magdeburg (dpa/sa) – Traveling by the committees of the Saxony-Anhalt state parliament incurred total costs of around 310,000 euros in the past election period. This emerges from a list of the parliamentary administration, which is available to the German Press Agency. The highest expenses were incurred by trips abroad by the Committee on Federal and European Affairs. The entire committee traveled to Malta in 2016 and to Vietnam in 2020, for both trips together the expenses were around 54,000 euros.
From 2016 to 2021, most of the other committees traveled abroad with all their members at most once. In addition, there were several delegation trips in which only one member per political group took part. Some planned trips had to be canceled due to the corona pandemic.
According to the state parliament administration, an entire committee may travel once in the election period, a delegation at least once in a calendar year. The aim is to bring the “view from outside” into Parliament. It is also about exchanging views on political, social and economic opportunities for cooperation and promoting Saxony-Anhalt in terms of tourism. In this sense, the committees are “ambassadors of the country”.
