Who are the highest paid MPs for the month of May/ The majority, "non-existent" in Parliament

2023-07-27 19:18:00, Politikë CNA

Who are the highest paid MPs for the month of May/ The majority,

The Institute of Political Studies has conducted an observation on the payments of the deputies of the Parliament of Albania for the month of May, after they increased their salaries.

ISP has published a table with the names of the highest paid MPs for the month of May 2023, a month which did not have normal parliamentary activity due to the local elections.

ISP declares that the payments made are among the highest in the history of parliamentarianism since 1991, since 22 MPs have received over 5 million ALL.

In addition to the monthly salary, citizens' representatives in the parliament have benefited millions from fuel, telephone, housing bonuses, per diems inside and outside the country, fees for participation in commissions, etc.

What is noticeable is that most of these MPs are "non-existent" in Parliament and their voices are not heard.

Who are the highest paid MPs for the month of May/ The majority,

ISP's findings:

The MPs unanimously decided to double their monthly salary as part of the increases that were made for the high state pyramid and public administration employees. The decision came immediately after the local elections, where a record number of citizens who refused to participate, thus also refused the political offers dictated by the traditional political parties. For ISP, it remains clear that the previous salary, especially for MPs who did not receive other support benefits, was small in relation to the parliaments of the region and the commitment that parliamentary activity carries, but the decision to significantly increase the salary comes in contrast to deeply with the regional and wider trend, as well as with the economic decline in the country, especially the decline in the economic and living standards of the citizens.

However, the periodical reports of the Institute of Political Studies (ISP) have shown that a minority of MPs are very active, use parliamentary rights and responsibilities to the maximum, have a parliamentary product, initiate laws and undertake serious and worthy acts for the position they hold . But, at the same time, there is another part of deputies who have not left a parliamentary mark except in cases of scandals or incidents, do not speak, do not propose, do not have opinions, do not have political ideas and do not testify and do not fulfill almost any of the essential criteria of being parliamentary. They are there mainly because of personal connections with political leaders, clientelistic influence in the electoral area,

How much do MPs benefit? The table illustrates the salary of the highest paid deputies for the month of May 2023, i.e. in the month when Albania was in the electoral campaign and it is assumed that there would be no normal parliamentary activity (as there was not). Although the month is almost a holiday for the parliament, the payments made to them are among the highest in the history of parliamentarism since 1991. The first column shows the standard monthly salary of the MPs, the second column the additional payments that the MPs benefit from (fuel bonus, telephone , per diems inside and outside the country, fees for participation in commissions, housing bonus, etc.). In the second category, the main beneficiaries are mainly the MPs from remote areas, unlike those from Tirana, who have lower bonus and benefit quotas. Therefore, the table is dominated by deputies from remote areas, Shkodër,

As can be seen from the table, among the most paid MPs for the month of May 2023 from our taxes are only some of the active MPs in the periodic evaluations of the ISP, and the majority are led by MPs who have no legislative "footprint" and parliamentarianism. Do you know them? It doesn't matter, they know you because they come to you when there are election campaigns. For symbolism, the two silent PSD MPs are in the top 5 places, the MP who made a law for his friend and the MP who praised the dictator Hoxha are also in the top 10 highest paid places. Also added to the table are the deputy who resigned due to the violence scandal in Kruja with "only" 4.5 million ALL per month (old) as well as the deputy who is wanted by the SPAK Police with "only" 3.5 million ALL per month (old)!

It is worth noting that the parliament already applies a positive transparency standard by making public the financial data of the benefits from the MPs. This experience should be accompanied by greater transparency in other aspects of parliamentary activity, including administrative investigations in cases of abuse of office and the creation of measuring mechanisms of the link between benefit, product and expectations towards MPs. Imagine a member of parliament who receives a salary and monthly bonuses of 5 million lek without having any parliamentary commitment, except for formal participation in meetings, where he always votes according to the political decision of the party he belongs to! Imagine the living standards their constituents have there in the area,

The experts of the Institute of Political Studies (ISP), who monitor the parliamentary activity since 2016 and following, estimate that the obvious increase in the salary and financial benefits of the deputies should be turned into public good through the obvious increase in ability, integrity and the professionalism of the parliament, which has not happened, on the contrary. In the latest survey on trust in governance, the parliament ranks at the bottom, about twice as low as religious institutions, the army, the education system, civil society, etc., being for years the political institution with the lowest public trust. Also, ISP estimates that this deep contrast between the financial treatment and the parliamentary product will have to stimulate debates about the current representative system, the number of deputies, the way of organizing the parliamentary groups,CNA.al