Dubbed laziest deputy, Bismarck descendant lingers

Berlin - A great-great-grandson of the famous Iron Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck, was resisting on Tuesday calls to resign instantly for being the 'laziest politician' in Germany. Carl-Eduard von Bismarck, a federal deputy for Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU), has rarely been seen in Berlin. He told fellow Christian Democrats last week he would retire. Bismarck's spokesman said he needs until January 12 to wind up his Berlin parliamentary office. Outraged parliamentarians suggested Tuesday that Count Bismarck, 46, was lingering so that he could qualify at the start of 2008 to receive a lifelong parliamentary pension of 631 euros (927 dollars) monthly. Klaus Schlie, a Christian Democrat and junior finance minister in Schleswig-Holstein state, said, 'As far as I know, he hasn't set foot in that office for several months, or at any rate was never reachable there. 'So how can be claim he needs a few more days to tidy up?' Bismarck's spokesman Andreas Henschel declined to say when the deputy had used the office recently. But he said the resignation date made no difference to the taxpayer. Merkel's party has been trying for several months to shake off Bismarck. The media began dubbing him Germany's laziest politician in the autumn. Bismarck said he had a bad back. He represents the district where Otto von Bismarck, who was chancellor 1871-90, had his country estate. Opponents said Bismarck would receive a lump sum of just 40,000 euros instead of a pension if he were to resign in December. © 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur

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Dubbed laziest deputy, Bismarck descendant lingers

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