Europarlementariërs bespreken eigen pensioenregeling (en)

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - MEPs are set to discuss new rules for their pension scheme, amid accusations that millions from public funds are spent on their personal pension contributions.

Around two thirds of parliamentarians (485) currently belong to a voluntary pension scheme, provided by the European Parliament. Under its rules, MEPs pay monthly about a thousand euro as their personal contribution to a pension fund run by the Parliament's questors.

However, these personal payments to the pension scheme are deducted from a public money package of about 3800 euro a month that all MEPs get for running their office and other expenses related to their work in the Parliament.

And, while they are supposed to repay these monthly pension contributions, there has been no effective way of checking if they do so.

British Liberal MEP Chris Davies suggested on Thursday (3 March) that around 10% of those participating in the pension scheme might be avoiding their duty of repaying their pension contributions.

"We need new and more effective rules to protect those who are in fact not abusing the system", he told the journalists, pointing to his amendments to the tabled report due to be discussed by the Budgetary control committee in the coming weeks.

"I hear the rumours and I am angry that the behaviour of some besmirches the reputation of us all".

He proposed that various sanctions should be applied against MEPs who do not abide by the rules, and that the culprits should be made public and possibly even suspended from the Parliament.

"We have been very good in the European Parliament at pointing the finger at other institutions for their auditing, but we have so far failed to solve our own problems and irregularities", said Mr Davies.

MEPs' pension fund at 40 million deficit

According to Portugal Socialist MEP Paolo Casaca, the problem with the pension scheme running in the European parliament cannot be ignored.

"We have been waiting for a single statute of MEPs to be published by the Luxembourg presidency, as they suggested. But at the moment, we think that with the statute or without it, we can wait no longer".

Mr Casaca said it was "unacceptable that the contribution of individuals should be paid by public funds. We are expecting a heated debate about this, as not all political groups have come up with their position on what should be done. However, something needs to be done immediately".

The pension fund itself is likely to be a huge problem, as the most recent budgetary reports states that it runs a deficit of about 42 million euro. Every MEP contributing to it for at least three years is entitled to a pension for life after they reach sixty years of age.

According to Mr Casaca, nobody has tabled a solution to this problem, but "it is absolutely out of question that public money should be used to deal with the fund's deficit".

Eurosceptic MEP Jens-Peter Bonde argued "It is illegal to run such a high deficit". He suggested that contributions by MEPs should be increased and new rules set up.

"We have been calling for a change for ages now, but nothing has changed. Not even in case of travel allowances used by the MEPs. The system remains open for abuse, and MEPs are still unaccountable, which leaves those who abuse it on the same line as those who do not".