European Commission staff have received an automatic salary rise, despite the body advising governments and labour groups not to do the same.
Commission employees in Luxembourg and Belgium, including Commissioners themselves, have received a 2.4% pay increase in June to compensate for inflation and the cost of living, which will apply retroactively from January according to Politico. It will reportedly result in a net cost of €78 million this year to the EU budget.
Amid a cost-of-living crisis across the continent, European Commission staff received an automatic salary rise.
The catch: It contradicts the EU executive's own advice on wage setting.https://t.co/tDvkm92BHB
— POLITICOEurope (@POLITICOEurope) June 21, 2022
Top European officials are already among some of the best paid public servants in the world, with Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen receiving around €335,000 per year, or €28,661 per month, plus expenses for travel, food, child education allowance, healthcare costs, accident insurance, and much more.
An unnamed EU spokesperson reportedly said this was an “automatic calculation without any political discretion.”
However, the European Commission has previously warned member states that giving automatic pay rises to employees in line with inflation risks exacerbating inflation even further, urging countries and industries to avoid the move.
“[An] important element for inflation not to become entrenched is to avoid price-wage spirals,” said European Commission Executive Vice President, Valdis Dombrovskis, last month.
Reacting to the announcement, Romanian MEP Cristian Terheș slammed the move.
“After they caused the cost of living increase all across Europe, spreading poverty like never before, EU officials maybe consider [whether] they ‘deserve’ a pay increase,” he told Breitbart London.
“With higher inflation and taxes, people now have to pay more to the same Eurocrats who brought them into this mess. The audacity of the EU officials to increase their salaries…especially at this moment, when the regular people are suffering, is just another proof that, except for accumulating more power and serving the big special interest groups, they don’t care about people,” he added.
Terhes recently slammed the bloc for employing what he called an “insane” policy of trying to “tax people out of existence.”
MEP slams “insane” EU policy of trying to “tax people out of poverty”
European officials are well known for their lavish salaries, with President of the European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde, receiving a whopping €396,900 per annum, or around €33,000 per month.
In addition, President of the European Council, Charles Michel, receives a chauffeured car, around 20 dedicated staff, various allowances and expenses, all on on top of his €392,400 per year salary (or €32,700 per month).