Parliament in the UK has recently been slated in the press after the massive exposure of ministers abusing their powers and their misuse of the expenses system, rightfully infuriating the country’s taxpayers.

It seems that Germany is next in line after a shameful incident was recently exposed.

The scandal shocked Germany when it was revealed that a minister sent for her limousine to join her in the Spanish holiday vacation spot of Alicante.

The minister in question, Ulla Schmidt who is the country’s health minister, though paying for her own flights for the holiday vacation, still felt the need to waste taxpayer’s euros by sending for her official car and its driver.  The distance covered being approximately 2,400 kilometres from Berlin to the popular holiday spot.

Reinel Holznagel, the head of the “Taxpayer’s Association” in Germany was quoted to have said, “Mrs Schmidt should have found out if the embassy could have provided her with a car or she could have simply rented one with a driver. It would have been far cheaper for the taxpayer

To add to the embarrassment of the minister and even more so, the government, the limousine was actually stolen during her trip.  It is said that burglars broke in to the accommodation where the driver was staying managing to steal the keys.

The health minister justified her actions by stating that the car was only used for official meetings, which had been arranged in order to discuss healthcare and pensions with retired German ex-pats in Spain.

The incident comes at a rather inconvenient time, as it is currently the run up to Germany’s federal elections.