€7,000 monthly salary for MEPs proposed

The Luxembourg presidency of the EU is making fresh attempts to reform the salaries of MEPs, suggesting there should be a common pay for all.

Nicolas Schmit, Luxembourg's deputy foreign minister, was reported as saying that a monthly salary of about €7,000 for all MEPs will be proposed to the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament soon.

This proposal will dramatically boost the remuneration given to the five Maltese MEPs currently serving in Brussels. At present, Maltese MEPs are entitled to the same salary as that of their counterparts in Malta, which amounts to Lm6,761 (€15,550) a year. Under the new proposal, their salary will swell to Lm36,521 (€84,000) a year which amounts to an increase of 540 per cent.

Presently, there are sizeable differences in pay among MEPs from different countries. Italian MEPs are paid €11,000 (Lm4,782) per month while those from Spain make €2,600 (Lm1,130) a month.

These differences have increased with the enlargement of the EU, with MEPs from Lithuania being the worst off, receiving just €800 (Lm347) a month. Maltese MEPs are paid €1,295 (Lm563) a month.

For years, the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers have tried to agree upon a common salary for all MEPs and clear the way to reforming the MEPs' allowances, which many of them use to compensate for lower salaries.

Procedurally, salary reform requires a proposal from the Parliament to be agreed by the Council of Ministers.

The last effort was blocked in December 2003 by Germany, France, Austria and Sweden, which argued that the proposed monthly salary of €8,500 (Lm3,695) was too high. The defeated proposals would have given member state governments the chance to tax MEPs at a national, rather than an EU rate, and the pensionable age for deputies would have been increased from 60 to 63.

A spokesman for the Luxemburg presidency told The Times the presidency is currently consulting member states to see their reaction before submitting its final proposals. He added that the presidency wishes to reach an agreement over this issue by the end of June.

At present, apart from their salary, all MEPs receive a Brussels/Strasbourg allowance of about Lm112 a day (depending on exchange rates) for accommodation and subsistence costs and a reimbursement for weekly travel for the cost of an open economy ticket plus an allowance for distance travelled.

The European Parliament also pays allowances totalling Lm70,000 a year per MEP towards the cost of employing staff in Brussels and at their constituency office. MEPs are also given an office costs allowance of Lm19, 000 a year.

The spokesman for the presidency told The Times that in the eventuality that the new MEPs statute is agreed by June, the new salary structure will also include reforms in all the other allowances paid currently to MEPs.