MEPs give themselves another raise in their staff allowance

Members of the European Parliament have given themselves another increase in their staff allowance to the tune of €1,500 a month to engage employees in their private political offices in Brussels and in their constituencies.

The rise, the second in the past few months, comes as results of a new survey show a slight worsening in how the Maltese view the EP.

The Parliament’s Budgets Committee on Thursday agreed to raise the staff allowance given to every MEP to €21,209 a month. The reason given by the two biggest parties in the EP, the European People’s Party and the Socialists, is that MEPs need to engage more staff due to their additional workload since the introduction of the Lisbon Treaty, which gave the European Chamber more powers. Last year, MEPs also got a €1,500 monthly increase for the same reason.

Budgets Committee member Helga Trupel, a Green MEP, tried to get the decision postponed, saying it was unjustifiable, especially when the rest of Europe was facing austerity measures. But she only had the support of small political groups, which was not enough to block the proposal.

According to the EP, the latest additional will cost European taxpayers an extra €13.25 million a year.

Apart from staff allowances, MEPs benefit from a hefty financial package that includes a pre-tax monthly salary of €7,957, a subsistence allowance of €304 per working day and other benefits and perks.

Moves like this may be among the reasons contributing to the dimmer view of the EP by EU citizens, including the Maltese.

For example, although a majority of 57 per cent of the Maltese electorate still believe MEPs listen to citizens, this represents a three percentage point drop over the same figure a year earlier.

Likewise, four per cent more see the EP as inefficient, at 53 per cent.

Still, the perception of the EP in Malta is one of the strongest in the EU. Across the EU, 41 per cent agreed the EP “listens to the citizens”.