Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-12-17-Speech-3-013"
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"en.20031217.1.3-013"2
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"Mr President, I should like to state once more, on behalf of my colleagues in the Movement for France delegation in the European Parliament, that we are absolutely opposed to Members of the European Parliament being paid their main salary out of the Community budget. Under the Treaty, MEPs are the representatives of their respective nations, and it is therefore by the latter that they must be paid.
In the same way, the shaky tax compromise at present under discussion is not acceptable. A simple, clear principle is required: MEPs must be subject to the same tax as their fellow citizens. If, by some misfortune, the statute now being discussed were to lead, as may be feared, to an increased parliamentary salary and to reduced income tax; if, moreover, the idea were created that MEPs were escaping the financial controls of their own countries and were becoming employees of Brussels; then I say to you loud and clear that our fellow citizens would not accept this, and the EU’s credibility would be dealt another terrible blow.
Governments therefore need now to resist pressure from the federalists who want to detach Members of the European Parliament from their respective countries on the pretext of a principle of equality between MEPs that exists nowhere in the Treaties and that is entirely invented. In order to bring Europe closer to its citizens, we must, on the contrary, strengthen the link between MEPs and their nations.
To summarise, the main parliamentary salary must be paid by the country of origin represented by the MEP. Income tax must be levied on a national basis. Expenses must be reimbursed on the basis of actual costs. Finally, and by way of a compromise, it could be accepted that daily allowances should be considered as a supplementary income paid by the European institutions and subject, therefore, to Community tax. That is the very most we can accept."@en1
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