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Q & A - Expenses and allowances for Members of the European Parliament

Q & A - Expenses and allowances for Members of the European Parliament

What are the financial rules which apply to MEPs?

MEPs are bound by the Parliament’s detailed “Rules governing the payment of
expenses and allowances to members”. These are not easily accessible to the general public, but they are not secret. You may be interested in reading them; I therefore publish them here.

The rule book itself is certainly improvable and it is being revised. Meanwhile I have repeatedly voted in favour of stricter requirements for transparency and accountability.

Do you make donations to a political party?

Yes. I have made donations to the Liberal Democrats and previously to the Conservative Party. The Electoral Commission website publishes details of donations above certain thresholds. Any donations are from my personal funds.

Should MEPs’ accounts be audited?

I support auditing of MEPs’ office expenditure. Audits are now a compulsory requirement of the Liberal Democrats’ code of conduct, to which all candidates for the 2009 European Parliament elections must adhere.

For now though, there is no requirement on MEPs to carry out audits. Despite this, I have previously commissioned an audit of office finances and plan to do so again.

Voluntary Pension Scheme

I am a member of the Parliament’s voluntary pension scheme and cover that cost through personal funds.

Do you employ members of your family?

I do not and have not employed any of my relatives. I recently voted that MEPs should not employ members of their family within their office, particularly with public funds.  I believe that working in a busy political office can be a valuable and beneficial experience for young people. It is a shame if those opportunities do not arise because positions are filled by family members.

I appoint by merit with very satisfactory results. There are generally between two and four assistants in my office who work all the hours the Parliament is open and more.

How are MEPs’ assistants paid?

Different Members have different arrangements. I use a firm of UK Chartered Accountants as my Paying Agents: MGI Rickard Keen LLP. The partner who handles my affairs is Mr Keith Bell.

How are assistants employed?

Staff have the job title of Political Assistant. Staff work in London, Brussels and Strasbourg; they also come on political missions to other countries wherever possible. All staff except those on work experience have formal contracts, checked by partner Damon Parker of Harcus Sinclair.

Staff salaries and costs take up the whole of the Parliamentary Assistant allowance, and sometimes more, in which case the difference comes from personal funds. The normal range of salaries is in the lower twenties to the upper forties for full-time appointments depending on experience.

Staff names are not published for data protection reasons and because this is not a requirement of their contracts. Staff are not required to be a member of a political party, nor are they asked about political preferences at interview.

Assistants working in the European Parliament are not employed by the Parliament itself, even though their salaries come from public funds. Without common standards some work in precarious circumstances. Each MEP contracts individually with their assistants on a different basis in each of the twenty seven Member States. I have strenuously argued for the Parliament to recognise assistants by giving them a common status, but this step has been opposed by a majority of MEPs.

Do you have a regional office?

 

No. It is not the case that MEPs have to have a regional office to collect a certain allowance. The rules can be found here on my website. You can found out about my work for the region here.