Accession MEPs set to outstrip prime ministers in pay stakes

By Martin Banks

Date: 22/01/04

COMMISSIONERS and MEPs arriving from the new member states look set to enjoy a huge pay day after the EU's enlargement on 1 May.

And if salary changes backed by the European Parliament are approved by EU foreign ministers on Monday (26 January), some 40 MEPs will find themselves earning three times or more than their prime ministers.

The startling statistics are highlighted in a report by German law professor Hans Herbert von Arnim, of the University of Speyer in Rhineland Palatinate.

Top of the pay-rise league will be deputies from the Baltic state of Lithuania, who are set to receive a ten-fold increase in their wages. It is envisaged they will be paid €8,500 per month compared with the €800 they currently receive as observer MEPs.

The deal would also represent a huge leap in pay for Slovak members, now earning €900 per month.

MEPs from Latvia and Malta can look forward to an eight-fold pay rise if foreign ministers agree to a harmonized 102,000 euro-a-year salary for members - a deal backed by European Parliament President Pat Cox.

At present, MEPs are paid at the same rate as their counterparts in national assemblies, but this has given rise to huge disparities (see table).

Meanwhile, the ten commissioners nominated by the new member states will do even better.

Each will earn a gross monthly salary of €18,000 for shadowing one of the existing 25 commissioners until the Prodi administration completes its term on 31 October.

Some commentators say the six-month period, which includes the summer break, will leave them with little to do but acclimatize to their new jobs while enjoying symbolic parity. They have already been nicknamed the "trainees with Mercedes" by officials.

Virtually all 162 of the current observer MEPs, who are also national parliamentarians, are expected to stand in the European elections (10-13 June).

Figures obtained by European Voice from the accession countries' missions to the EU reveal wide differences in how much they are paid at present.

Those from Cyprus easily top the pay league table, earning €3,000 per month, followed by Slovenia and Hungary (both 2,500 euro) and Poland (2,300 euro).

If the common pay structure proposed by the Parliament is agreed on Monday, MEPs in the majority of the EU-25 will earn more than cabinet ministers in their home countries.

Von Arnim's report shows, for instance, that members from Spain, Ireland and Finland fall into this category. In the case of Spain, they will be paid more than the country's premier José María Aznar.

In Slovakia, an MEP's basic pay will be 33 times higher than that of the average citizen, seven times higher than a cabinet minister and nearly five times higher than the prime minister's.

The professor writes: "It will do terrible damage to the EU idea. An MEP is a lot less important than a cabinet minister, so people will not understand why they are being paid more."

In addition to their basic pay, MEPs will also benefit from a special low rate of income tax and daily tax-free allowances of €257 for every day that they attend the European Parliament.

They also receive €3,620 per month in general expenses and €12,305 each month for secretarial expenses. Also, MEPs may take other jobs.

Germany is threatening to vote against the proposal, but Parliament spokesman David Harley told this paper that he expects the deal to go through "with or without Germany", because the decision will be taken by qualified majority voting.

"No one member state can veto this so, as much as we'd like Germany on board, the statute can still go through," he added.

Feature looks at the proposed new system for MEPs' salaries.