EU nations weigh pay deal for assembly members

European Union nations today sought an equitable pay-and-perks deal for the 732 members of the European Parliament, hoping to finally rid the assembly of its gravy train image.

Last year, they rejected a proposed monthly base salary of €8,600 as too generous. In subsequent negotiations with the parliament, this was cut to €7,000. That amount is part of a proposal to end the practice of letting legislators legally claim expenses without proper receipts.

Undocumented expenses have long allowed them to claim for full-fare plane tickets between the EU assembly in Strasbourg France and Brussels, for instance, while actually flying no-frills carriers or going by car and pocketing the difference.

Luxembourg, which holds the EU presidency, is to put a slimmed-down pay-and-perks deal to the other 24 EU governments hoping to end pay discrepancies for EU assembly members who have long been accused of padding their wallets at taxpayers’ expense.

Today’s meeting was not expected to lead to immediate decisions, diplomats said.

Their salaries vary by nationality as EU assembly members at the moment earn the same as their colleagues in national legislatures.

That makes the assembly’s 87 Italians the best paid: €12,000 a month, four times the income of Spanish assembly members and about 10 times more than Baltic states’ members whose countries joined the bloc in May, 2004.

Under the latest proposal, the pay for EU assembly members from eastern European nations would rise gradually to €7,000 a month, officials said, and higher pay levels would be cut to that base rate.

Last year, the EU foreign ministers rejected €8,600 a month, with Germany, France, Sweden and Austria calling it excessive at a time of fiscal belt tightening across Europe.

The rejection of a pay deal meant that the pay discrepancies have worsened since Cyprus, Malta and eight east European nations joined the EU in May, 2004.

In Hungary, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Malta, Latvia, Slovakia, Estonia and Lithuania, national politicians earn between €800 and €1,500 a month.