Next month MEPs will be grappling with the task of drawing up a common statute on salaries and expenses which will apply to them all. This follows recent controversy over their current travel expenses, controversy which has prompted Parliament's governing body, the Bureau, to push for the same salary and allowances for all members.
At present MEPs receive the same salary as their counterparts in their national Parliaments - but these vary from almost £75,000 per annum for Austrian members to around £22,500 for Spanish members, with Irish MEPs getting £37,750. All receive a daily subsistence allowance of £182 per day while in Brussels/Strasbourg and a lump sum travel allowance to travel there and back.
In order eliminate salary discrimination based on nationality and anomalies related to different distances that must be travelled to Parliament, proposals for a common statute for MEPs are currently being drawn up and Parliament will be voting on them in November. The Austrian EU Presidency has indicated that it will be placing proposals on the agenda for the Vienna Summit in December. Council will then have to approve the statute unanimously before it can enter into effect.
Pending the adoption of this statute, the Bureau has introduced transitional arrangements.