Akkoord over salarissen europarlementariërs ketst af (en)

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Efforts to reform the pay system for euro-parliamentarians before June's European elections look doomed to fail following a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels today (26 January).

Reform of the pay scheme, which has been lambasted for allowing MEPs to make money through an opaque expenses system, was blocked by Germany, Sweden, Austria and France.

Today's failed talks mean that the current system, where MEPs get paid the same as their national counterparts, is set to continue.

Parliament furious

In practice, this leads to huge pay discrepancies between deputies, with Italians earning around 12,000 euro a month, while their Spanish counterparts earn around 3000 euro.

The discrepancy is even greater for MEPs from the poorer new member states - Hungarian MEPs will earn 800 euro a month.

The expenses system, which is not based on actual costs supported by receipts, is also set to continue.

European Parliament President Pat Cox, who put this issue on his personal agenda at the start of his tenure, castigated the council for failing to reach an agreement.

"This Parliament has voted to put its House in order, we have delivered on our part of the bargain, we have backed the deal for reform. "

"It will be deeply disappointing if, at this late stage, Member States cannot fulfil their part of the bargain," said Mr Cox.

Opponents

The main opponent to the reforms - over which talks have been going on in some form or another for the past 25 years - was Germany. Berlin argued that the overall cost of the package was too expensive - they also asked on Monday how they could support a system that most of their own MEPs were against.

However, domestic politics is also playing a role, the government has just pushed through harsh domestic reform and is baulking at the idea of selling such a hike in wages to German voters ahead of the European elections.

Sweden argued that the salary which would be set at 8,600 euro a month in return for a clearer expenses system based on receipts, is too high.

They pointed out that Swedish MEPs would earn twice as much as they do now.

Austria said that the reforms were "a step in the right direction" but also expressed concern about the level of salaries.

Starting all over again?

The ball is now in the European Parliament's court and it is up to them whether to propose a whole new draft resolution.

The vast majority of MEPs would like to have the system reformed, particularly in the run up to the European elections - however with just five months to go and with the Parliament stopping legislation towards the end of April - the timetable is extremely tight.

Last Friday (23 January), in anticipation of a possible failure, Irish EU Ambassador Anne Anderson said "if we do not sort this out now then the opportunity will have escaped us for quite some time to come".

Similarly, an Irish diplomat said today that the Irish Presidency felt it was a "very good opportunity to reach an agreement" and that it was now "unlikely" that the package would be passed before the June elections.

The Irish Presidency will report back to the European Parliament on Wednesday (28 January). On the basis of their assessment, the Parliament "will decide on the next steps and what can be retrieved".