European parliament

Double job MEPs

Published on 15 October 2014 at 11:47

More than half — 53 per cent — of MEPs develop professional activities outside their job at the European parliament, writes El País , quoting an online report published on 13 October by Transparency International. Noting that the report is “full of mistakes”, the Spanish daily adds that MEPs show “potential conflicts of interests hard to clarify with the documentation that from this year on they have to provide in a homogeneous manner” to the Parliament.

Meanwhile, EUobserver notes that

under beefed-up ethics rules starting with the new Parliament, MEPs had to fill out their declarations right from the start, in an electronic format.

The Brussels-based website adds that “their activities are not illegal” and that they

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come on top of the €8,000 basic salary that MEPs receive monthly as well as up to €11,000 in travel and housing allowances. Jointly they earn between €5.8 and €18.3 million a year on top of their MEP salaries.

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