Cox under fire after bid to clinch deal on MEPs pay

Date: 21/11/02

By Dana Spinant

A POWER battle is looming in the European Parliament after the two largest parties challenged President Pat Cox's moves to broker an agreement with member states on a 'statute' for MEPs, aimed at harmonising their salaries.

This would mean a pay cut for Italian and German members. Moreover, all MEPs could be worse off if the statute imposes a stricter regime on allowances.

At present, MEPs are paid by their countries' governments, with salaries ranging from €2,879 per month for Spanish members to €9,975 per month for their Italian counterparts.

Small parties in the Parliament accuse the 'big two', the European People's Party (EPP) and the European Socialists (PES), of trying to kill the statute. Graham Watson, chairman of the Liberals, claims the German MEPs, in particular, are keen to block a deal that would leave them worse off.

Following talks with the heads of all 15 member states' permanent representations in Brussels, Cox told party leaders that a compromise on the statute 'was closer than ever'.

However, the Irishman is now under fire from the EPP and PES, who claim that by speaking directly to the perm-reps he acted beyond his mandate. They have now taken the matter out of Cox's hands.

'This is a clear campaign by the German representatives to scupper any deal,' Watson told European Voice. 'The two large groups fear that an agreement is close and they want to prevent it,' he added.

A draft statute proposed by German Socialist MEP Willi Rothley, which could be adopted by the Parliament next month, would not be acceptable to member states, Watson warned, because it fails to address the need for a transparent regime for travel allowances.

Hans-Gert Pöttering, chairman of the EPP-EED, accused Watson of being 'unfair'. 'It is a group position, not a German position,' he said. 'We want a statute for members, decided in a transparent way: the best way to do it is to discuss it publicly with the Commission and the Council during the plenary session in December.' Socialist leader Enrique Barón Crespo said: 'I would recommend more caution to Mr Watson.'

Cox was asked in June by the Conference of Presidents, composed of the assembly's party leaders, to hold 'exploratory' talks with the Council to see whether an agreement could be struck on the MEPs' statute. Both a majority of MEPs and Council members must agree on the issue - a talking point since the Parliament was formed in 1979 and the subject of detailed negotiations for more than five years.

Council sources indicate that member states could agree on a monthly salary of around €7,500-8,000. This is more than the weighted average of existing pay levels and believed to be acceptable to a majority of MEPs.

The more thorny question concerns their allowances. Currently, MEPs can add up to €15,000 per month to their salaries to cover general expenditure, flat-rate travel allowances and daily 'per diem' payments, according to Parliamentary administrative officials. On top of that, MEPs receive €12,000 a month to cover assistants' pay.

The present system, paid out of the Parliament's budget, lacks transparency as members do not have to produce detailed documents for reimbursing their expenses. Member states want a system based on real costs. 'This is not in the Rothley report, which is consequently not acceptable to the EU states for the moment,' said a spokesman for the Danish EU presidency.

Cox still intends to ask the Parliament's Bureau, made up of presidents, vice-presidents and quaestors, to table a proposal on MEPs' allowances. It remains to be seen if the EPP and PES will try to block him.

A power battle is looming in the European Parliament after the two largest parties challenged President Pat Cox's moves to broker an agreement with Member States on a 'statute' for MEPs, aimed at harmonising their salaries.