News • March 7 2004

Maltese European parliamentarians with Lm400 salary a month

Kurt Sansone

Candidates running for posts in the European Parliament will have to abandon their hopes of receiving astronomical wages. They will be receiving the same salary as their fellow Maltese MPs, which is hardly adequate for somebody living in pricy Brussels.
To make matters worse, MEPs could find themselves earning less than their own secretarial staff. Each MEP irrespective from which country he or she may hail is afforded an allowance of Lm5,167 (EUR12,305) per month to employ one or more secretarial assistants.
Although MEPs have access to various allowances, the final wage packet still won’t be as lucrative as most would believe. The salary of an MEP is pegged to the wage paid to lawmakers in the MEP’s home country. In Malta MPs are paid a gross yearly wage of Lm6,490 (EUR14,966), which works out to a monthly gross wage of Lm540.
Allowances may see the monthly MEP income increase to Lm4,325 but the bulk of the money is earmarked for daily travel expenses to and from parliament and the cost of running an office.
The not so grand salary, when compared to the standard of living in Brussels has also put off likely candidates from contesting the June election on behalf of the two major political parties, MaltaToday has learned.
To make up for the wage shortfall prospective MEPs are being given advice on how to ‘handle’ the system to be able to benefit as much as possible from the different allowances. One way of ensuring an adequate household wage is by employing family members and friends as secretarial assistants.
In January, Germany, France, Austria and Sweden rejected proposals to introduce a single wage scale for all MEPs irrespective of the wages paid by the national parliaments from where they hailed. The proposal suggested MEPs receive a monthly wage of Lm3,802 (EUR9,053) excluding allowances.
As things stand there are huge wage differences between MEPs of different countries. Italian MEPs are the highest paid with a gross monthly salary of Lm5,039 (EUR12,000), while their Spanish counterparts earn Lm1,259 (EUR3,000) per month. The wage differences will become even more glaring when MEPs from the 10 accession countries are elected to office for the first time in June this year. Hungarian MEPs are expected to receive a wage of Lm335 (EUR800) per month while Lithuanian deputies can expect to pocket around Lm146 (EUR350) every month. The gross monthly wage of a Maltese MEP would be around Lm540 (EUR1,245).
In addition to the monthly salary MEPs also have access to various allowances the structure and method of payment of which are conducive to abuse.
MEPs are granted a yearly travel allowance of up to Lm1,501 (EUR3,574) to cover expenses incurred worldwide in relation to work conducted as part of their duty, a general expenditure allowance of around Lm1,520 (EUR3,620) per month to cover office expenses and a daily subsistence allowance of Lm107 (EUR 257). MEPs are also reimbursed for travel expenses from their place of residence to the European Parliament.

kurt@newsworksltd.com