Members of the European Parliament are entitled to several allowances, but there’s often criticism and confusion over what the so-called “Brussels gravy train” entails. EuroVerify takes a look.
Can MEPs skip the line at airports? Do they get free first-class train tickets? What about their “luxurious expenses”?
Being elected a Member of the European Parliament comes with a range of benefits, including overhead allowances, travel costs reimbursements and money for meals.
These advantages have sparked online conversations about what exactly MEPs are entitled to, and whether it’s fair that they get them.
The discourse took a different turn when Fidias Panayiotou, a well-known YouTuber and independent Cypriot MEP, posted a video on Instagram in which he showed his new diplomatic passport as a newly elected member of parliament.
In the video, he says the passport allows politicians to skip the line at the airport while also granting them free visas for countries that require them.
Panayiotou claims that while the passports allow politicians who travel a lot to do their jobs more efficiently, it could be seen as unfair to regular people who have to wait in line for lengthy passport checks.
Does the European Parliament issue diplomatic passports to MEPs?
We contacted the European Parliament, whose press service told us that MEPs don’t get a passport with diplomatic status, privileges, or immunities.
The Parliament said MEPs are obliged to respect customs and exchange controls.
It added though that MEPs can get a “laissez-passer,” which they can use as a secure travel document for activities related to their parliamentary work only, in countries that recognise it as a valid travel document.
What Panayiotou appears to be holding in his video is a diplomatic passport issued by the Cypriot government.
These passports, given by national governments, do confer certain advantages, like quicker diplomatic lanes at airports and waived visa requirements.
What allowances do MEPs get?
The European Parliament doesn’t issue diplomatic passports to MEPs, but it has a list of the benefits MEPs do get.
For example, they get a general expenditure allowance to cover things like computers, office rent and supplies.
It stands at €4,950 and is a bit controversial because MEPs get it in a lump sum, and they’re not required to declare how the money was spent.
“The lump sum payment is used in order to safeguard the independence of the mandate and because this form of payment is the most cost-effective,” the European Parliament said.
ADVERTISEMENTMEPs also receive a daily €350 subsistence allowance, which is a flat-rate sum covering accommodation, meals and related expenses each day that they are at parliament on official business.
For travel expenses, they can be reimbursed for travel to European Parliament meetings, but only if they provide receipts.
Ceilings are set to up to a maximum of business class plane tickets, first-class rail tickets, or €0.58 per kilometre for car journeys (up to a maximum of 1000 km). The European Parliament says that it issues tickets.
MEPs can also be reimbursed for their travel, accommodation and related expenses up to a maximum annual amount of €4,886 for activities outside their home country. For commitments at home, travel expenses are determined on a country-by-country basis.
ADVERTISEMENTThey also get two-thirds of their medical expenses reimbursed.
And when a member leaves office for good, they get what some would call a “golden parachute”: it’s a transitional allowance equivalent to one month’s salary per year they were in office, for up to two years maximum.
This is provided they don’t take office elsewhere or a pension: in the case of the former, the salary gets offset, and for the latter, they’ll have to choose.
All MEPs earn the same monthly salary: €10,377.43 gross and €8,088.03 net, although certain countries may impose additional levies after that.
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