Reform of MEPs' pay deal (Diana Wallis MEP)

Diana Wallis MEP <info@dianawallismep.org.uk>

Reform of MEPs' pay deal

June 5, 2003 12:00 AM

A German led coalition of anti-reform MEPs will approve a package of proposals which has been described as "indefensible" by Diana Wallis, Leader of the UK Liberal Democrats in the European Parliament.

"The proposal on the table today should not be mistaken for a genuine reform package. It is simply another attempt to sabotage this issue and kill off the reform process. Ministers from EU member states will have no choice but to throw out these proposals in their entirety and we will be back to square one."

The package was intended to end the potential for abuse of expenses and the huge difference in the salaries of MEPs from different countries. At present Euro-MPs in Italy are paid more than £90,000 each year compared to £24,000 paid to MEPs from Greece.

The plan would set the pay for all MEPs at euro 8,500 per month which, depending on the rate of exchange, would give British representatives salaries of between £3000 and £16,000 more than the £56,000 paid to members of the House of Commons.

Lib Dem MEPs were at the forefront of efforts to seek a reform consensus but the defeat of a liberal led bid to ensure that national rates of taxation could apply was the last straw. Instead a majority voted for MEPs to pay only a standard European tax.

"It would be impossible for any British MEP to justify paying lower rates of tax than the people we represent. Neither could we defend proposals that would mean that MEPs from EU accession countries would be treated differently from ourselves. The reform package has been sabotaged by a group of MEPs determined to resist change and who made an appeal based on naked greed. It is a sad day for the European Parliament."