Filenews 9 June 2024 - by Eleftheria Paizanou
The profession of MEP is proving to be a particularly lucrative profession, which is why a large number of candidates are running in all Member States for one of the 720 seats in the European Parliament for the period 2024-2029.
In the following report, from the June issue of Insider magazine, which is published today together with Phileleftheros, all the emoluments of MEPs, from salary, allowances, bonuses, pensions and... extra earnings from private activities.
The salaries of MEPs alone reach €120,000 per year, which means that by the end of their term of office they will receive only €600,000 from salaries. To these are added other allowances, several thousand euros per year.
In the election, voters from the 27 member states will elect MEPs who will represent them in the European Parliament for the next five years.
The allocation of seats is based on the size and population of each country. The allocation is based, in particular, on the principle of degressive proportionality, which means that each MEP from a country represents more people than one MEP from a smaller country.
There are six MEPs in Cyprus. This is the minimum number of parliamentary seats for a country, while the maximum number of seats is 96 MEPs for Germany.
The 720 MEPs will represent EUR 450 million. citizens of the European Union.
17 THOUSAND EUROS PER MONTH
In addition to their monthly salary (around €10,000 gross), MEPs also receive allowances and compensation from other sources through the European Parliament.
According to official figures from the European Parliament, MEPs receive a salary and allowances to cover the costs they face in carrying out their parliamentary duties. Additional allowances include general expenses allowance, travel expenses, other travel expenses, as well as a daily subsistence allowance.
Therefore, before taxes are deducted, MEPs' monthly salaries exceed a total of €17,000 gross.
Regardless of their country of origin, the 720 new MEPs receive a uniform salary of €10,075 per month, which after deduction of taxes and contributions is limited to €7,853.
Members of the European Parliament generally receive the same salary, in accordance with the uniform statute that entered into force in July 2009. It is worth noting that the salary comes from Parliament's budget and is subject to European Union (EU) tax and social security contributions.
At the same time, member states can also subject their MEPs' salaries to national taxes.
The basic salary is set at 38.5% of the basic salary of a judge at the Court of Justice of the European Union. There are some exceptions concerning Members who were mandated in Parliament before the 2009 elections and were able to choose to keep the previous national system of salaries, transitional allowances and pensions.
COMPENSATION FOR OVERHEADS
€4,950 per month is added to the monthly salary of those elected, which constitutes a general expenses allowance. This allowance covers expenses in the Member State of election, such as the costs of administering the Member's office, telephone and postal charges, and the purchase, operation and maintenance of electronic and telematic equipment.
The allowance is halved for Members who are absent for at least half of the days of the European Parliament's sessions (September to August).
TRAVEL EXPENSES
In addition, every month the European Parliament transfers travel expenses to MEPs' bank accounts, which cover the cost of travelling to plenary sessions of the European Parliament, parliamentary committees and political groups, which take place either in Brussels or Strasbourg.
In detail, the actual cost of tickets purchased by MEPs to attend these meetings is refunded to them upon presentation of relevant supporting documents. The price of a business class or similar air ticket or, alternatively, the price of a first class rail ticket shall be covered. A lump sum of EUR 0.58 per kilometre (up to a maximum of 1000 km) is granted for journeys by car, in addition to flat-rate allowances calculated on the basis of the distance and duration of the mission and intended to cover other costs linked to the journey (for example, motorway tolls, excess baggage or booking costs).
COSTS OF OTHER JOURNEYS
In addition, MEPs are reimbursed for other travel expenses that cover expenses other than meetings. The amount of this allowance exceeds €4,886 per year.
Members of the European Parliament in the performance of their duties often travel outside or within the Member State of their choice for purposes other than formal sittings (for example, to attend a conference or to pay a working visit). For example, for activities outside the Member State of their election, MEPs can be reimbursed for travel, accommodation and other related expenses.
For activities in the Member State of their choice, only transport costs shall be reimbursed, up to a maximum annual amount to be fixed per country.
COMPENSATION €350 PER DAY
Every month, MEPs earn €350 per day for their parliamentary activities.
The European Parliament pays a flat-rate allowance of €350 to cover all other expenses incurred by MEPs during periods of parliamentary activity. A basic condition for receiving this compensation is confirmation of their presence, signing one of the official lists.
It is worth noting that the allowance is reduced to 50% if Members do not take part in more than half of the roll-call votes on voting days in plenary, even if they are present. For meetings organised outside the European Union, the allowance is €175 (always subject to the signing of an attendance register), while accommodation costs are reimbursed separately.
GENEROUS PENSION BENEFITS
In addition to the attractive remuneration that MEPs receive in the performance of their duties, their pension benefits are particularly generous.
Under the current statute, former MEPs are entitled to an old-age pension from the age of 63. The pension shall be equal to 3.5% of Members' salaries for each full year of office and one-twelfth of this amount for each additional full month of office, but shall not exceed 70% of MEPs' total salary.
The cost of pensions is covered by the budget of the European Union. The supplementary pension scheme introduced for Members in 1989 ceased to accept new members as of July 2009 and is being phased out.
MEPS' INCOMPATIBILITY
Once elected, the new MEPs will be scrutinised by the European Parliament authorities to see if there is an incompatibility.
In particular, MEPs cannot be, in addition to their duties in the European Parliament, members of the government or members of the national parliament, or hold the post of Commissioner or Advocate-General, Judge or Registrar of the Court of Justice of the EU or the Court of First Instance.
In addition, they cannot also be ombudsmen or members of certain organisations, such as the Central Bank, the Court of Auditors, the Economic and Social Committee or the Committee of the Regions.
Incompatibility also arises if they are members of bodies entrusted with the management of EU funds or the exercise of direct administrative functions and if they are members of the Board of Directors, the Management Committee or the staff of the European Investment Bank.
Finally, they are prohibited from being active employees of the EU institutions or other specialised bodies or of the European Central Bank.
DOUBLE AND TRIPLE SALARIES
Last month, foreign press reports cited data from Transparency International on the EU and said that 70% of MEPs carry out some kind of parallel activity, whether paid or not.
This is a total of 1,751 parallel activities, or an average of two per MEP.
The analysis showed that MEPs are reluctant to abandon or legislate measures for their parallel activities, as they generate €8.7 million in revenue.
According to Transparency International, the MEPs who have the highest parallel incomes with parliamentary salaries come from Lithuania, Malta, Hungary, Greece and Slovakia.
On the other hand, all Cypriot MEPs declare zero income beyond the parliamentary allowance.
In some cases, MEPs' income from their parallel activities exceeds the earnings they receive from the European Parliament! Transparency International had called for stricter controls and recommended banning EU lawmakers from any extra-parliamentary professional activity. Last year, the EU, following the "Qatargate" scandal, strengthened its rules. Among other things, under the new framework, MEPs will have to disclose more details about the income they receive, beyond what they receive as MEPs.
Three categories of assistants assist MEPs
MEPs' work is also supported by their assistants, who are located in Brussels, Luxembourg, Strasbourg and in the country of election.
Each month the MEP's team of assistants is paid a total of €28,696 per month. This amount is remitted directly to the assistants who meet the relevant conditions and have a valid contract, as well as to the bodies charged with collecting taxes on salaries.
MEPs are assisted by three categories of assistants, accredited assistants, local assistants and trainees. According to the European Parliament's website, accredited assistants are recruited in Brussels (or Luxembourg/Strasbourg).
MEPs can hire three accredited assistants or four under certain conditions. At least 25% of the total allocation for parliamentary assistance shall be reserved for accredited assistants.
Local assistants support MEPs in the Member State of their election. The relevant contracts are managed by an authorised payment agent who ensures compliance with the provisions on social security and the tax regime. Local assistants' contracts are either employment contracts or service contracts.
Trainee officials may also carry out practical training either on Parliament's premises or in the Member State in which the Member is elected.
THE LEVEL OF ASSISTANTS' SALARIES
The total cost to local assistants and trainees may not exceed 75% of the total allocation for parliamentary assistance. However, costs for service providers alone may not exceed 25% of this total envelope.
The remuneration of accredited assistants shall be determined by the Staff Regulations applicable to officials and other servants on the basis of a salary table of 19 grades, updated annually and published in the Official Journal. On the other hand, the maximum remuneration of local assistants may not exceed, on average a monthly average, the ceilings laid down.
The maximum salary of an assistant MEP in Cyprus is €6.483 per month, in Greece the assistant is paid up to €5.480, while in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Sweden the monthly salary of assistants reaches €8.519. The lowest salary (€2,978) goes to the assistants of MEPs from Bulgaria, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland and Romania.
Finally, salaries in the other Member States for parliamentary assistants range from €3,045 to €6,654
