MEPs’ salary a reflection of EU staff scale
What is claimed in the item MEPs Give Themselves A Bonus (December 16) is simply untrue. The European Parliament has not changed MEPs’ salaries, which are set in law at 38.5 per cent of the salary of a European Court of Justice judge. The rise referred...
What is claimed in the item MEPs Give Themselves A Bonus (December 16) is simply untrue. The European Parliament has not changed MEPs’ salaries, which are set in law at 38.5 per cent of the salary of a European Court of Justice judge.
The rise referred to in the item is not a “Christmas present”, which MEPs chose to give themselves, but reflects a change to EU staff salary scales that automatically affects MEPs. This was decided by the Council of Ministers and not by the European Parliament.
What is referred to as a “backdated rise” reflects a ruling by the Court of Justice relating to the 2009 salary review procedure, which had been initially blocked. The Court’s ruling resolved disagreement about how to apply the inflationary adjustment mechanism affecting all EU staff (similar to Malta’s own cost-of-living-adjustment from which all workers and pensioners benefit each year). Parliament has approved the routine indexing of the allowances for MEPs in line with the EU-wide inflation rate. These allowances reflect real costs MEPs inevitably face as part of their work – and these costs (such as hotel charges in Strasbourg) – have risen.
The total an individual MEP actually receives depends on how many times he or she is present in Parliament; the subsistence allowance is only paid for days when they sign the presence register.
That The Times increasingly chooses to take its cues from Eurosceptic sources is perhaps a pity. That it fails to check the accuracy of its basic facts with the European Parliament Office situated down the road from its own building strikes me as a waste of EU resources put at its disposal.
Editor’s note:
The item about the new rise to MEPs for 2011 is based on facts checked and verified directly with the EP’s head office in Brussels.
The rise in the salaries and non-taxable allowance of MEPs for 2011 was given the go-ahead by the EP’s bureau on December 13. The bureau could have declined its approval. Thus, it cannot be said that it was automatic.
Salaries of MEPs for 2011 will go up by €35 a week from €1,732 to a weekly €1,767; the subsistence allowance will rise from €297 to €304 a day and the general expenses allowance will go up from €4,202 to €4,299 a month. Eurosceptics have called this rise and the €6,300 in arrears given to MEPs a Christmas bonus.
The Times reported faithfully such facts, which are surely of interest to those financing them − EU taxpayers and readers.