Daily allowances and golden parachutes: we look at the perks the newly elected lawmakers meeting this week can expect.
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00:00As the new European Parliament holds its first plenary session, 720 members are heading to Strasbourg to start the legislature.
00:11Each of them is entitled to a monthly salary of 8,089 euros net, coming from the budget of the Parliament.
00:20And this is not the only pot of money MEPs get.
00:25A general expenditure allowance of 4,950 euros is foreseen every month.
00:31However, this amount is halved if they attend fewer than half the plenary sittings in one year, without proper justification.
00:40Then there is a flat rate sum covering accommodation, meals and related expenses for each day spent in Brussels or Strasbourg by an MEP, which is an additional 350 euros.
00:52To receive this money, members of Parliament must sign an attendance register.
00:56This makes the total monthly revenue at around 17,000 euro. This number may vary from month to month.
01:03Each MEP also gets 29,557 euros per month to be used only to pay parliamentary assistance.
01:11Former members are also entitled to a pension when they turn the age of 63.
01:17It is equal to 3.5% of their salary for each full year in office.