Ah, the German "Pirate Party", at times taken seriously, more often ridiculed, not elected into the national parliament in the 2014 general election - but always good for a piece of news. They are in several state parliaments, and that's the source of the news.
This one comes out of Germany's Far North, with the understanding that "far" is very much relative in this small country the size of Montana.
The Pirate members of the state parliament of Schleswig-Holstein have been vocal critics of what they see as overly generous compensation of the legislature.
And now, they are giving the state a 200 00 Euro loan at zero percent interest out of the compensation they have received as legislators.
What they are saying: We want to help out the state because is has huge debts. And this money, we don't need it right now.
The terms of the loan include a provision that they can ask to get the money back at any time.
The reaction of the public, assuming that reader comments on internet news sites represent the public?
Some favorable comments but a large number of scornful ones, accusing the legislators of a publicity stunt.
We checked the compensation of the legislature and can say, its is pretty well remunerated, not 'lavish' although they get all sorts of strange extra pay, like a fat bonus for being the speaker or for being the head of a caucus.
The next couple of days will show whether we have found a German politics version of the old "no good deed goes unpunished".
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