BRATISLAVA, December 2, (WEBNOVINY) — Members of the Slovak Parliament may have 15 percent lower salaries based on the amending proposal tabled by a group of ruling coalition deputies. They suggest changing the draft amendment to the law on terms of payment of some constitutional officials. While the original amendment assumed that salaries would be decreased by so-called “Fico’s levy” amounting to twice the percentage rate of the budget deficit, the amending proposal suggests preserving salaries if the general government deficit is below 3 percent of GDP, otherwise the reduction would be categorized but amount to 15 percent at most. Miroslav Beblavy of SDKU-DS explained that lawmakers would lose 5 percent of their salaries if the deficit is somewhere between 3 and 5 percent of GDP, 10 percent with deficit between 5 and 7 percent and they would receive as much as 15 percent lower salaries if the deficit exceeds 7 percent.
The coalition has suggested more changes in the amendment, for example cancellation of the thirteenth and fourteenth salary of county chairmen, capping bonuses for political officials in civil service to 20 percent of the annual income and modification of severance payment for public officials in accordance with the Labor Code. Parliament should also curb lump-sum compensations for MPs, costs on their assistants and rent for deputies’ offices from current EUR 2,500 to EUR 2,025, according to the amending proposal.
Lawmakers will make a final decision on the coalition amendment at the meeting of the Coalition Council on Thursday. “Deputies are pretty much in accord on this proposal,” believes Speaker of Parliament and SaS Chairman Richard Sulik who introduces the amendment. He reminded that MPs’ salaries could also be higher than they are now in the frozen state in case of positive economic development. He underscored that he found freezing of parliamentary salaries introduced two years ago a big mistake. “Such solution has no effect, only widens the gap between what MPs are entitled to and what they actually receive,” he said.
SITA