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The Left group in the European Parliament is set to demand that MEP salaries are halved, arguing that lawmakers taking home tens of thousands of euros a month are increasingly disconnected from ordinary voters.
MEPs currently receive a net monthly salary of €8,772.70, on top of several allowances that bring their total monthly income to around €18,000.
Under a formal proposal put forward by Belgian MEP Marc Botenga, only the basic salary would be cut, reducing it to around €4,400 a month.
The measure is contained in an amendment to a resolution on next year’s Parliament budget, which is due to be put to a vote during the plenary session in Strasbourg in two weeks.
“MEPs are very disconnected from the people. For the salary they earn, they do not know what it means not being able to pay rent,” Botenga told Euronews.
The Left estimates the cut would save more than €50 million from next year’s Parliament budget.
“At a time when workers face rising costs and pressure on living standards, elected representatives should lead by example and share in the efforts required of society,” reads the amendment, seen by Euronews.
But the proposal is likely to face opposition from other political groups.
“The proposal is a classic case of populism,” Estonian MEP Jaak Madison, from the European Conservatives and Reformists group, told Euronews.
“If the Left’s MEPs wish to demonstrate genuine solidarity with the voters […] they could for instance simply refrain from signing the attendance register that entitles them to a daily allowance of over €350,” he said.
German lawmaker Daniel Freund of the Greens/EFA group also described the proposal as a “populist stunt.”
“The rules for MEP salaries are quite sensible; they are tied to the developments of salaries in the member states,” he told Euronews.
A similar proposal was already rejected in the Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, Botenga said, acknowledging that the initiative would probably be rejected by his colleagues.
Beyond their net monthly salary of €8,772.70, MEPs are currently entitled to a general expenditure allowance of €4,950 per month. This allowance is halved if they attend fewer than half of the plenary sittings in a year without proper justification.
Their mandate also provides for a flat-rate daily allowance of €359, covering accommodation, meals and related expenses for each day spent in Brussels or Strasbourg. MEPs must sign an attendance register to receive the allowance.
Together, these payments can bring total monthly income to around €18,000, although the amount may vary from month to month depending on the Parliament’s working calendar.
On top of their salary and allowances, MEPs receive over €32,000 per month to cover the cost of parliamentary assistants. Former members of the Parliament are entitled to a pension from the age of 63, amounting to 3.5% of their salary for each full year in office.