Study keeps the heat on Europe's best paid MPs

Italy's widely-reviled politicians are the best paid in Europe, says a study that will increase pressure on MPs in Rome to accept substantial pay cuts.

A Europe-wide survey by a parliamentary committee has found that average monthly gross pay for Italy's MPs, including expenses, is more than €16,000 ($26,500) and for some may exceed €18,000.

French MPs, with a gross monthly remuneration of about €14,000 are the second best paid in the eurozone, with German MPs receiving about €12,600. Spanish MPs fare worst, at €4650 a month, excluding secretarial costs.

The report will reinforce calls for the salaries of Italian MPs to be slashed to the European average, in a period when the public is being told to tighten its belt as the technocrat government introduces new austerity measures to tackle the country's debt mountain.

Premier Mario Monti signalled in his first speech to the Italian Parliament in November that unwarranted perks and pay for Italy's privileged classes, particularly parliamentarians, would be cut to save money and set an example.

But MPs rebelled as soon as plans were touted to cut their pay and pensions. The Government promptly agreed it was up to parliamentarians to reduce their own salaries. A spokesman for the Prime Minister denied the Government had made an about turn. He said it had been agreed that deciding the remuneration of MPs and senators came under parliamentary business.

So far, concrete proposals on cutting parliamentary costs have yet to emerge. Giorgio Saccoia, a spokesman for the big public sector union CGIL, said: "We know that we needed an emergency budget, and that we would have to make sacrifices. But we hoped the people in power would lead by example. There's been little sign of it."

Concerns over Italian parliamentarians' ability to adopt their own austerity measures will not have been eased by the tone taken by the report, compiled by MPs and their colleagues in the Senate, who earn about €12,000 a month.

The document suggests that, given the complexities in parliamentary pay structures and the differences between systems in different EU countries, the data is "of insufficient quality" to use as a base to reduce members' salaries.

Italian MPs get free rail and air tickets as well as an entitlement to claim €1300 a month for travel expenses. Last year, details of subsidised parliamentary hairdressers and bargain-priced dining also emerged. Italian MPs also enjoy bullet-proof pensions after only one term in Parliament.

- Independent