Income

IRENA
JOVEVA

Work is value. Maybe it sounds pretentious, but for me it is true, and I practice it daily. I genuinely believe that the income of every Member of the European Parliament should always be transparent since it is public money.

Salary

SALARY

All Members of the European Parliament receive the same basic salary. According to the EP statute, wage amounts to 38.5% of the basic salary of a judge of the Court of Justice of the European Union. The MEPs monthly gross salary is 10.377,43 EUR. From the total salary, the MEPs pay EU tax and insurance contributions, after which every MEP gets a nett payment of 8.088,03 EUR per month.

MEPs from Slovenia are obliged to pay a monthly fee for personal income tax. Financial Administration of the Republic Slovenia is responsible for the calculation of our personal income tax payments. While calculating, they take into account the tax deduction paid abroad, after which the amount of my personal income tax from employment is 1.376,91 EUR (for 2023).

I spend approximately 20% of my basic (gross) salary per month for charity.

Daily allowances

DAILY

ALLOWANCES

Parliament pays a flat-rate daily allowance of 350 EUR to MEPs to cover the cost of their stay in Brussels or Strasbourg and the related expenses for each day of the mission. We are only entitled to get it for the days we sign the attendance list in MEP portal in the EP. Daily allowances include hotel bills, meals and all other costs. The daily allowance can also halve if more than half of the roll-call votes at the plenary session are missed, even though the MEP is present and has signed attendance list.

The daily allowance fee for meetings outside of the EU is 169 EUR (with a mandatory signature on the attendance list). Hotel bills are refunded separately.

Office costs/Monthly rate

OFFICE COSTS/ MONTHLY RATE

Members of the European Parliament receive 4.950,00 EUR per month (valid for 2024) to cover the costs of parliamentary activities. I use this amount of money to pay for telephone costs, equipment, rent for local office, team expenses, organization of conferences, exhibitions, events for voters, etc. I keep that amount in a separate bank account, to ensure maximum transparency and spending acceptability of this budget.

By clicking on the links below, you will be able to see an overview of my monthly spending (available only in Slovenian language):

Travel allowance

TRAVEL ALLOWANCE

Every Member of the European Parliament has a budget dedicated exclusively for travel allowances of up to 4.517 EUR per year, which can be spent on what is known as ‘unofficial travel’. They include business trips not organised by the European Parliament (attending conferences, working visits, etc.). In order to use the allowance and receive the reimbursement of travel costs, MEP must provide evidence that travel expenses were linked to his/her work as MEP. This compensation can only be used for activities outside our home country. For businesses in the Member State of the election, in my case Slovenia, we are only reimbursed for the transportation costs with a maximum annual amount set for each country.

A specialised agency handles travel expenses acquired for plenary sessions, committee and political group meetings in Brussels and Strasbourg. The agency also takes care of the bookings of aeroplane or train tickets in the European Parliament.

Staff costs

STAFF COSTS

Every Member of the European Parliament is entitled to choose assistants; whos salaries come from the budget established by Parliament. The maximum monthly amount to cover all the costs of assistants employed from 1. January 2023 is 28.412,00 EUR per month.

I have three Accredited Parliamentary Assistants in Brussels, local assistant and a paying agent (accounting service) in Ljubljana. The budget also includes allocated funds for trainees, as well as the travel and daily allowances of assistants. Much like a political fund, these funds are not transfered to an MEPs account. The budget is controlled and managed by the European Parliament and the paying agent in Slovenia.

Accredited Parliamentary Assistants are employed by the European Parliament and receive a direct payment of salary from the Parliament; they are subjected to the same conditions of employment as temporary staff members of the EU. As for the local assistant, the salary is transferred through Paying agents. They carry out the payment with the responsibility of guaranteeing adequate tax treatment and social security payments.

If the estimated budget for staff costs is not fully spent, the money is returned to the European Parliament.

Political fund

POLITICAL FUND

Each Member of the European Parliament is entitled to approximately 40.160 EUR each year for financing political relations with the public. To get the funds, you have to request them and justify the need for them. The fund can be spent on publications, organizing conferences or seminars. The MEP does not receive the money directly; it is managed by the political group to which the MEP belongs. In my case, the political group is Renew Europe Group. Each MEP must pre-register their event or publication. If the MEP doesn’t use the estimated amount in this budget in a year, the money will be returned to the European Parliament.

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IRENA JOVEVA

Income

Salary

SALARY

Daily allowances

DAILY

ALLOWANCES

Office costs/Monthly rate

OFFICE COSTS/ MONTHLY RATE

Travel allowance

TRAVEL ALLOWANCE

Staff costs

STAFF COSTS

Political fund

POLITICAL FUND

IRENA
JOVEVA