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| Greek parliament (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
The government is expected to introduce a draft of the 2014 state budget in a couple of days, and although there are many debates and/or rumors about what sort of tax breaks we will or we will not endure in the new year, some reports are saying that it will include a 70 million Euro sum for our MPs! In short: Parliamentary allowances, benefits, bonuses and participation in various committees!
Let us make something clear, before we begin being accused of purposely polarizing our readers. The salary of every MP is about 6,000 Euros, however, with the benefits they receive, combined with all the allowances they get, combined with all the pocket change they accumulate from participating in various committees their salaries can rise to as much as 17,000 Euros each per month. And if that wasn't enough, they also have a 65% tax break, and their expenses in Parliament are also paid from a separate fund that is said to range around 700,000 Euros every year. Make your own calculations: 17,000 Euros multiplied by 300 MPs, multiplied by 12 months and you will unfortunately arrive at the astronomical sum of 70 million Euros.
As the numbers of homeless increases and as Greek children attend school in freezing classrooms, or with minimum heat, our politicians continue to enjoy monthly salaries that are higher in relation to many other European countries in spite of an unprecedented recession. What is worse, citizens are called to pay for these astronomical salaries. Whenever confronted with this striking truth, some MPs have said that this is because democracy is expensive... but this is a pitiful line of reasoning! What they really want to say is that "let them (us the people) eat cake."
Aside from their fixed salaries, our MPs also apparently receive:
- - a supplementary salary during Christmas (500 Euros), Easter (250 Euros) and vacation (250 Euros)
- - allowance for four secretaries and one adviser
- - 3,300 Euros per year for using four telephone lines
- - free transfer vouchers for trains, buses and ships
- - up to 60 airline tickets free of charge (but this is only for MPs who are from the rural part of the country)
- - 1,000 Euros allowance per month for housing
- - interest free loans
- - s pension and a compensation - for MPs over the age of 65
- - a pension after a year tenure
- - an allowance of 150 Euros for participating in a parliamentary committee meeting (this is per session)
- - 150 Euros per Diem when they travel abroad (and they always somehow choose to stay at 5-star hotels of course)
- - day care services for their children, the cost of which is entirely covered by parliament
- - a further 20-40% in funds for representing their parties (which basically equals to some 778 and 1,556 Euros per person per month and this is in addition to their regular pay) but this is only for the prime minister, deputy prime ministers, ministers, deputy ministers, speaker of parliament and leader of the main opposition party
- etc.....
Portions of this article were taken from a Greek article on Defencenet
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