Multiple pensions and other benefits for state officials have been of concern to both society and the parties themselves for some time now. In addition, efforts were made by the government and the parties to end the regime of multiple pensions for former officials.
In the midst of all this, however, another issue arises, which may be equally provocative. This is about the travel allowance that MPs receive and especially about the way in which it is calculated, paid, checked and which enters their accounts even when the Parliament is officially closed for summer, other holidays or even during the pre-election holidays.
According to the data, each MP receives €685 per month as a travel allowance. This means €8,220 per year for each MP.
For the 56 MPs, the total cost is €38,360 per month or €460,320 per year. It is, in fact, a tax-free amount, which is paid without being linked, at least in a way that can be publicly controlled, to the actual travel and expenses of each MP.
The key question is not whether Members should be compensated for travel in the course of their duties. The question is how the amount of €685 is derived, what exactly travel it covers and how it is verified that it corresponds to the actual expenses of each MP.
It should be noted that according to the official data of the General Accounting Office, this amount is paid steadily and horizontally to all MPs, completing the rest of their remuneration package (basic salary, representation expenses and secretarial allowance) which amount to several thousand euros each month.
Even if they move all 365 days
In order to understand the amount of the allowance, a calculation can be made with the most favourable possible assumption for MPs.
Suppose, then, that they never go on vacation. That they are not absent for a single day due to illness or other obligation. That they never travel abroad and are never outside Cyprus. That they make official trips every day of the year, even on weekends, holidays, Christmas, Easter and during the summer recess of the Parliament.
Even with this extreme hypothesis, €8,220 per year corresponds to €22.52 per day for all 365 days a year.
If we calculate that an average car consumes seven liters of gasoline per 100 kilometers and that the price of gasoline is €1.40 per liter, then the cost for every 100 kilometers amounts to €9.80.
With these data, the allowance corresponds to fuel for about 230 kilometers every day, for 365 days a year.
That is, the amount corresponds to fuel for almost 83,900 kilometers per year for each MP.
This calculation does not mean that MPs say they travel 84,000 kilometers, nor that the entire allowance is intended exclusively for gasoline. However, it is an indicative conversion of the amount into fuel, in order to reflect its real size in order to determine whether it meets the real needs or can be considered excessive.
Even if we consider that an amount concerns the damage to the car, then again this amount cannot be justified, at least not with the current data and the controls that do not exist, since it should be noted that even if we calculate that 2-3 euros per day concern car damage, which corresponds to 60 to 90 euros per month, or 600 to 900 euros per year, then the maintenance of the car is also overcovered.
However, even with the unrealistic assumption that an MP travels for official purposes all 365 days of the year, including the wear and tear of the car, the amount still corresponds to about 200 kilometers every day.
And this is where the central question lies. Which official travel justifies such a number of kilometers?
Almost 140 times around free Cyprus
To make the size even more understandable, we can use another indicative comparison.
If we calculate the tour of the free areas, we arrive at a route of about 600 kilometers. Then the 83,900 kilometers correspond to almost 140 complete laps of free Cyprus in one year.
In other words, the allowance paid to each Member of Parliament corresponds, as fuel, to carrying out a full round of the free areas approximately every two and a half days.
For all 56 MPs, the corresponding distance exceeds 4.69 million kilometers per year. That is, for almost 7,830 rounds of the free areas every year.
Parliament open for 200 days
The previous calculation was made for 365 days, precisely to use the most favourable version possible for the deputies.
In reality, however, the Parliament does not hold sessions of parliamentary committees or the Plenary Session all 365 days of the year.
A more realistic, but still favourable calculation for MPs is that of about 200 days.
However, it should be clarified that the 200 days are not the actual days of the presence of each MP. The 200 days are the working days during which the Parliament is open and sessions of parliamentary committees and the Plenary Session are held.
Of course, this does not mean that all MPs go to Parliament for all 200 days, since not everyone participates in the same committees, the committees do not meet every day and many meet on the same day. Additionally, there may be absences, trips abroad, or other obligations.
Therefore, the calculation of the 200 days assumes that each Member of Parliament goes to Parliament on every working day on which parliamentary work takes place, regardless of whether he participates in a session.
Based on 200 days, the annual amount of €8,220 corresponds to €41.10 per day
With the same consumption and the same price of gasoline, €41.10 corresponds to fuel for about 419 kilometers each day of operation of the Parliament.
That is, when the calculation is made based on the days on which the Parliament is open for sessions, the allowance corresponds to more than 400 kilometers per day.
House-Parliament is one thing and official transportation is another
In addition to the amount of the amount, another basic question arises: What exactly is considered a journey?
In the usual practice of the public service, the daily commute from home to the workplace is not considered to be covered as a journey.
For example, in the public service, the distance travelled between two or more places in the same day from the base of your work, and not from home to the office and vice versa, is compensated.
The official movement from the workplace to another place for the performance of a specific duty is essentially compensated and not the daily "home-work-home" route.
Therefore, it should be clarified what exactly the €685 covers.
Do they cover the transition from home to Parliament and back? Do they cover travel from the Parliament to ministries, government services, on-site visits and other places? Do they cover visits to constituencies? Do they cover pre-election rallies? Festivals? Memorial services? Funerals? Or do they cover all of the above without any distinction?
If the amount mainly covers the "home-Parliament-home" route, then why is the same amount paid to a Member of Parliament who lives next to the Parliament and to a Member of Parliament who travels from Paphos, Limassol or another province?
If it mainly concerns movements from the Parliament to other places, then what are these movements and how are fuel justified for 84,000 kilometers per year or for about 420 kilometers per day of operation of the Parliament?
The gap in control had been identified in the past
The issue of travel control is not new.
In an earlier report, in 2017 on the accounts of the Parliament, the then Auditor General and current MP and head of "Alma" had pointed out that the flat-rate allowance was not linked to the actual cost of travel and had suggested that it be related to the actual travel expenses. It was also pointed out that the allowance was paid regardless of the presence of the members in the committees and in the Plenary.
Now, of course, he is an MP and both he and his MPs enjoy this allowance. Under normal circumstances, we must expect that "Alma" will raise the issue in Parliament so that it can be discussed and regulated.
