00:00And staying in Strasbourg, MEPs from the left wing of the European Parliament have come up with a new proposal.
00:05They want to slash their net salaries in half from €8,800 per month to €4,400.
00:12For more, we can head over to Strasbourg and speak to Marc Bottenga, Belgian MEP from the left and actually
00:18one of the authors of this proposal.
00:20Good morning, Marc. Thanks for joining us. Tell us more about your idea here.
00:26Well, the idea is a very, I mean, as you know, that the salaries for members of the European Parliament,
00:31also members of the Commission, are extremely generous.
00:33You know, they can go up to €13,000, €14,000 a month easily without even the additional allowances.
00:39And so the question here is, in a situation in which many people struggle to make it to the end
00:43of the month,
00:44perhaps it is time to say, listen, we're going to cut the salaries a little bit in order to bring
00:48them down to earth.
00:49And in order for MEPs to, you know, realise perhaps a little bit more what the regular European is going
00:55through.
00:56But I'm sure this proposal would face a lot of opposition there in the Parliament among MEPs.
01:00So what can you actually really change?
01:05Well, I think it's important to put that discussion out there.
01:09That's the first thing. Obviously, you know, people are shouting populism.
01:13But I think it's very important that when also for the outside, when people see that, you know, members of
01:18the European Parliament, the European Commission,
01:20they're very happy to discuss anything like they can they can discuss cutting the European social funds, the cohesion funds,
01:26the regional funds whatsoever.
01:27All of this can be discussed. But when it's about themselves, when it is about, you know, their own privileges,
01:32their own salaries,
01:33then suddenly, oh, no, this cannot even be discussed.
01:35So I think it's good to put that out there, especially today when we have this energy crisis, you know,
01:39when many of us are afraid to go actually, you know, go up, get your fuel, do your groceries and
01:47whatever.
01:47So I think that would be a really important signal.
01:49And I've seen some critics say this is a populist stunt here. What would you say to them?
01:57Well, you know, I would say why haven't they is the only thing, the only thing they're stressed about is
02:01their own salary, their own privilege.
02:03For the rest, they're very happy to discuss anything, as I said.
02:05Secondly, I do believe that the way you live influences the way you vote and the kind of proposals you
02:11make.
02:11You know, if you yourself have no clue what it means to be scared to, you know, pay for fuel,
02:18to pay for groceries whatsoever,
02:20you know, this is going to have an impact on the priorities and on the proposals you're going to make
02:25in Parliament
02:26or at the level of the European Commission.
02:28You know, you're not going to consider the energy crisis terribly horrible if you don't feel it yourself, a little
02:34bit at least, you know.
02:35So in this sense, I would say, you know, maybe it's time for you to get out of your bubble
02:39and realize what's going on outside.
02:42And if you want to lead by example, of course, why stop at the salaries?
02:45As you said, MEPs also get big allowances. Should they be looked at too?
02:52Oh, absolutely. I think there's a number of things we should be looking at.
02:56I mean, we've got different proposals as well.
02:57There's also the transitional allowance. So when MEPs leave Parliament, they get this transitional allowance.
03:02You know, we'd say, why don't you just integrate, you know, national unemployment schemes?
03:06Because there's a lot of pressure on unemployment schemes at national levels, also pushed by politicians.
03:12But then they themselves are exempt from those schemes.
03:14So I think there's a number of things that we can tackle, also on the additional allowances.
03:19Why should that be just a fixed amount?
03:22Shouldn't that be linked to what you're actually spending?
03:24You know, all of these matters are on the table and need to be put on the table.
03:28And that's what we're doing right now, because we're saying it's time to burst this bubble a little bit.
03:32People are angry outside and they're angry at decisions that have been made in this parliament and by this commission.
03:38And in order to break away with that, to do away with that, sorry, I think this is a good
03:43first step.
03:44Well, people are certainly angry.
03:46Mark Patengo, we see protests from Madrid to Paris and, of course, Brussels bracing itself tomorrow for a national strike.
03:52Thank you so much for your time this morning and for joining us on Europe Today.
