“Give us back the daily allowance”, defies German MP Sassoli in the EU Parliament

In order to avoid gatherings during plenary sessions, the group leaders of the European Parliament have decided to close the registry office in Brussels and, consequently, suspend the daily allocation of 323 euros that is granted to MEPs as reimbursement of travel and accommodation expenses . A decision that did not fall to several MEPs, including the German EPP MEP Markus Ferber. Who accused the president of the European Parliament, the Italian David sassoli, to violate the rule of law.

The confrontation took place during the opening of the Plenary, which foresees, given the epidemiological situation in Belgium and other countries, the participation of deputies even from home. Ferber interrupted Sassoli by giving life to a question and answer between the two that lasted about twenty minutes. Sassoli explained that “the decision was made not to crowd Parliament.” The “bureau of Parliament unanimously decided for a few weeks to suspend the registration of signatures – added Sassoli – which of course can be restored.” The president of the European Parliament specified that “this measure could be corrected at the next table meeting.” The measure taken is “important” to protect “the health of all and for the efficiency of Parliament”, also because “in recent weeks hundreds of parliamentarians, collaborators and Parliament staff have been infected – said Sassoli – and only in the penultimate weekend we had 171 cases of positivityThat is why “a temporary measure has been taken that is valid to avoid the possibility of closing Parliament at this time.”

The decision was made after 350 MEPs (half the room) signed the Brussels register in the plenary of the previous October, but only 70 of them spoke during the debates. The hypothesis is that to push the parliamentarians to attend, rather than the need to intervene in the course of work, was the desire to add 323 euros a day to the salary.

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