domingo, 13 de janeiro de 2019

British MEPs to bag lucrative post-Brexit payout The departing parliamentarians are entitled to ‘transitional’ payments totaling tens of thousands of euros.




British MEPs to bag lucrative post-Brexit payout
The departing parliamentarians are entitled to ‘transitional’ payments totaling tens of thousands of euros.
Brexit champions Nigel Farage and Daniel Hannan, who both began their mandates in 1999, could be entitled to over €172,000 in transitional payments
British MEPs will be entitled to medical expenses and other benefits, alongside the transitional payments

By MAÏA DE LA BAUME 1/9/19, 8:25 PM CET Updated 1/13/19, 10:58 AM CET

British MEPs departing the European Parliament because of Brexit will receive a payout worth tens or even hundreds of thousands of euros.

According to a 22-page document obtained by POLITICO titled “British Members end of mandate," the British legislators who are due to leave on March 29 can claim a "transitional allowance" of €8,611.31 per month before tax for up to two years, depending on their length of service.

Taken together, the payments amount to a bill for European taxpayers of a few million euros.

The document, which covers "members' entitlements, staff and logistics in the framework of Brexit," was distributed to British MEPs before Christmas. It contains practical information for the departing MEPs who, it states, must vacate their offices in the Parliament's two homes in Strasbourg and Brussels before Brexit day on March 29. They can ship a maximum of 15 removal boxes back home.

The MEPs must also remember to leave behind their voting card, EU pass, Belgian special ID card, iPad, laptop and office keys — but they are allowed to keep their badge as a memento.

After Brexit day, the ex-legislators will still have access to their parliamentary email account and can request copies of electronic files for up to three months, but if they take up a professional lobbying position they "should inform the Parliament," according to the document.

“The Parliament is not too generous. It is the system as a whole that is unjust" — MEP

The financial package offered to Brexiting MEPs is no different from that offered to any other EU legislator leaving the assembly, for example if they are voted out. MEPs are entitled to a month of transitional allowance (the same amount as their salary) for every year they have been in the Parliament. So Brexit champions Nigel Farage and Daniel Hannan, who both began their mandates in 1999, will be entitled to over €172,000 in transitional payments if they do not take on another public or parliamentary appointment in the 20 months after Brexit day.

Farage is already among the top 10 best-paid MEPs because of declared outside earnings from broadcast contracts of between €590,048 and €790,000 since the beginning of this Parliament.

Alongside these transitional payments, the British MEPs will be entitled to medical expenses and other benefits. According to the document, they can receive half of the "General Expenditure Allowance" for three months after Brexit day.

The GEA is a controversial €4,416 per month payment that MEPs are given to cover office and other expenses, but they are not required to provide any evidence of how the money is spent — leading to accusations that some legislators use it as a personal slush fund.

British MEPs will be entitled to medical expenses and other benefits, alongside the transitional payments | European Parliament

The document also makes clear that the departing British MEPs will have his or her "last trip back home" paid for, and be entitled to "6 return journeys by air, rail or boat" in "the member state of election" up to March 29.

“The Parliament is not too generous,” said an MEP who wanted to remain anonymous. “It is the system as a whole that is unjust. These people have been elected. It is the result of democracy.”

This article is from POLITICO Pro: POLITICO’s premium policy service. To discover why thousands of professionals rely on Pro every day, email pro@politico.eu for a complimentary trial.

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