Hello my dears,
As an Elf Beauty investor, I hope that a lot of money has flowed into Elf's sales.
But given the large sum involved, I fear that Loreal was able to profit here.
Taxpayers are paying for the federal government's make-up costs. According to a media report, there are now some figures on the balance sheet of the traffic light and the red-green minority government.
According to a media report, the traffic light government spent at least 538,000 euros on make-up between the beginning of 2022 and the end of 2024. However, as "Bild" reported, citing government figures, this calculation did not include the styling costs incurred between May and December 2024 for former Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and her team at the Federal Foreign Office.
Under the red-green minority government, at least another 49,646 euros were added between the beginning of January 2025 and the end of March 2025, according to the report.
According to the report, Baerbock and her department also spent a particularly large amount of money on make-up during these three months. They would have spent a total of 20,849 euros on make-up in these three months. That's 7440 euros a month. According to Bild, former Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the Chancellery spent 13,015 euros.
Otherwise, the female ex-ministers and their departments are far ahead. Lisa Paus (Greens) and the Ministry of Family Affairs contributed costs of 4287 euros, the Ministry of the Interior led by ex-minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) 3737 euros and the Ministry of the Environment led by ex-minister Steffi Lemke (Greens) 3554 euros. Bringing up the rear were the Ministry of Construction (1999 euros), which was led by Klara Geywitz (SPD) at the time, and the Ministry of Economic Affairs (598 euros) with Robert Habeck (Greens) at the helm at the time.
None of the other ministries provided any information, which is why the total costs are not complete. Costs for hairstyling, clothing and photographers are not included, it is further stated.
Merkel spent 3000 euros a month on a stylist
By way of comparison, while Baerbock and her team invested around €7440 per month in make-up in 2025, former Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel, for example, had accumulated costs of around €3000 per month for the federal government after leaving office in 2023 - not only for make-up, but also for her hairstyle, mind you. This also included the hotel and travel costs of her stylist.
The Taxpayers' Association had massively criticized the rising costs of top politicians' appearances in the past. In 2023, President Reiner Holznagel said that taxpayers could not be expected to pay for politicians' make-up artists and hairstylists.
And it is not only make-up costs that cost taxpayers a lot of money, but also photographers. At state level, for example, the Bavarian state government led by Minister President Markus Söder (CSU) has recently attracted particular attention. Under him, the costs for photographers had multiplied compared to his predecessor Horst Seehofer, reported Der Spiegel in 2023.
In the first four months of the year alone, the State Chancellery reportedly spent around 75,000 euros - and that was just for freelance photographers. A permanently employed photographer was also on the pay slip, it said. In 2022, Söder spent around 220,000 euros, more than twenty times as much as Seehofer, said former SPD parliamentary group leader Florian von Brunn at the time. (Tsp)
