EN MEPs’ Portal FAQ Frequently Asked Questions on Members’ financial and social entitlements March 2021

EN MEPs’ Portal FAQ Frequently Asked Questions on Members’ financial and social entitlements March 2021

The European Parliament administration has put together a list of the most frequently asked questions relating to Members’ financial and social entitlements, with a view to demystifying a rather complex topic. This new document reflects the joint commitment by the Directorate-General for Finance and the Directorate-General for Personnel to best serve Members of the European Parliament. The FAQs are not intended to replace either the Statute for Members or its Implementing Measures, which are currently in force, but rather to render them more accessible. Their purpose is to present provisions which may at first seem obscure in a clear and instructive manner. Their content may evolve in the light of regulatory changes and, where appropriate, in line with your suggestions for improvement. Members have a wide variety of services at their disposal, primarily via the Members’ Portal and the e-Portal, but also via the Desk for Accredited Parliamentary Assistants (APA Desk), the Trainee Outreach and Recruitment Unit and Parliament’s back-office services, who together provide Members with insightful answers to any questions they may have. In conclusion, the Directorate-General for Finance and the Directorate-General for Personnel are determined to provide each and every Member with the best possible conditions in which to fulfil their mandate. I am therefore delighted to present the new FAQs on Members’ Social and Financial Entitlements, which I hope you will find both useful and instructive. Didier Klethi Director-General for Finance

Contents I - MEPs’ Portal ........................................................................................ 3 II - Members’ salaries and social entitlements............................................ 6 1. General........................................................................... 6 2. Remuneration .................................................................. 8 3. Pensions ....................................................................... 13 4. Additional (voluntary) pension .......................................... 18 5. Medical expenses........................................................... 18 6. Insurance...................................................................... 25 III - Travel and subsistence expenses...................................................... 33 1. General......................................................................... 33 2. Ordinary journeys ........................................................... 36 3. Supporting documents .................................................... 40 4. Taxi fares ...................................................................... 44 5. Additional journeys ......................................................... 45 6. Journeys in the Member State of election........................... 47 7. Attendance.................................................................... 49 8. Subsistence allowance.................................................... 51 9. Distance and duration allowances ..................................... 52 10. Loss of documents........................................................ 56 IV - Parliamentary assistance: APAs, local employees, service providers, paying agents and trainees..................................................................... 57 1. Overall ceilings and budget .............................................. 57 2. Payment schedule and timeframe to submit application forms 61 3. Expenses that are defrayable or inadmissible ..................... 62 4. Accredited Parliamentary Assistants (APAs)....................... 64 5. Accredited Parliamentary Assistants - Missions................... 73 6. Employed local assistants................................................ 75 7. Paying agents ................................................................ 81 8. Service providers............................................................ 83 9. Trainees ....................................................................... 90 9.1 Trainees in the European Parliament ............................... 92 9.2. Trainees in the Member State of election ......................... 94 10. Other .......................................................................... 98 V - Members’ professional training.......................................................... 99 VI - General expenditure allowance ........................................................105

I - MEPs’ Portal Mem bers’  1. What are Members’ financial and social entitlements? financial and - Salary, medical expenses, insurance cover, transitional social    allowance and pension rights; entitlem ents: - Allowance for employing accredited and local assistants, an overview service providers and trainees; - General expenditure allowance; - Travel and subsistence expenses; - Expenses linked to language and computer courses. MEPs’ Portal  2. Where can Members get comprehensive information opening  about their financial and social rights, and submit hours  application forms and reimbursement claims? The MEPs’ Portal handles requests related to Members’ financial and social entitlements, which are outlined in the Statute for Members of the European Parliament and its Implementing Measures (IMMS). Your Front Desk in Brussels SPINELLI 03H352 OPENING HOURS: Monday                   13:00-17:30 Tuesday to Thursday      8:30-17:30 Short Friday             8:30-13:00 Long Friday              8:30-17:30 OPENING HOURS DURING STRASBOURG AND ‘WHITE’ WEEKS: Monday                   14:00-16:00 Tuesday to Thursday      10:00-12:00 and 14:00-16:00 Friday                   10:00-12:00 Your Front Desk in Strasbourg WEISS T02050 OPENING HOURS Monday                   15:00-18:00 Tuesday to Thursday      8:30-18:00 page 3

Queries can also be submitted via e-mail at              @ep.europa.eu by phone, inside the EP on by phone, outside the EP: on +32 228           worldwide on +33 3881           from France Personalised    3. Are you a newly elected or outgoing Member? inform ation  The MEPs’ Portal welcomes new Members on their arrival and sessions   offers guidance on their departure, providing them with a comprehensive overview of their financial and social rights and informing them about the various financial and administrative formalities to be completed. In addition, a specific information session is dedicated to the management of the parliamentary assistance budget. MEPs’ Portal   4. Where can I check the opening times of the central financial attendance register and the deadlines for the submission calendar  of reimbursement claims? The MEPs’ Portal financial calendar provides a comprehensive overview of the opening times of the central attendance register, as well as the submission deadlines related to parliamentary assistance expenses (local assistants and trainees), Members’ travel and subsistence expenses, and Members’ language and computer course expenses. e-Portal Since the beginning of 2015, the e-Portal, the electronic version of the MEPs’ Portal, has provided Members with a single, secure online access point through which they can obtain information and perform administrative tasks related to their financial and social rights. The e-Portal application enables Members to: - consult the status of their budgets at any moment in time; - submit travel reimbursement requests electronically and follow their progress; - submit a request for the transitional allowance and consult the payment status of allowances and salaries; - follow the state of play of their general expenditure; - submit requests related to the contracts of accredited parliamentary assistants (APAs). page 4

Using the e-Portal has many advantages, for example: requests submitted via the system are given priority by the relevant services; the system’s automatic checks reduce the margin of error when submitting requests. Members also have 24-hour access, including remote access while out of the office, which means that they can consult the e- Portal and submit requests at any time. The e-Portal team can make appointments with Members upon request in order to define their personal access settings and, where necessary, establish access rights for their APAs, but only where the Members in question have granted their APAs power of attorney in order to guarantee the protection of their personal financial data. To request access to the e-Portal, please contact the MEPs’ Portal. Pow er of 5. Who can access confidential data on behalf of attorney  Members? APAs who have been granted power of attorney by their Member may access confidential data, in line with the specific rights granted by the Member, both via the e-Portal and at the MEPs’ Portal. page 5

II - Members’ salaries and social entitlements 1. General 1. Where can I find additional information on Members’ salaries and social entitlements? The MEPs’ Portal is responsible for providing all Members with the explanations they need to understand their financial and social entitlements. For more detailed information on personal medical files or ongoing insurance claims, every Member has a dedicated file manager in the Members’ Salaries and Social Entitlements Unit. The name of his or her file manager can be found on Parliament’s intranet or be provided by the MEPs’ Portal. Bank  2. How are allowances and reimbursements paid to transfers  Members and others entitled to such payments? Payments are made by bank transfer to an account designated by the Member (or another beneficiary in the case of pensions, etc.). Opening an   3. Where must the bank account be held? account  The bank account must be held in the Member’s name in a Member State of the European Union. Notification of 4. How should I notify the administration of my designated bank  bank account? accounts   Bank account details should be submitted via the e-Portal or the MEPs’ Portal. The financial identification form for this purpose is available on Parliament’s intranet site. page 6

Supporting 5. What supporting documents must be provided for the docum ents registration of bank details? Only the financial identification form is required. Please note, however, that the form must bear the stamp of the bank at which the account is held. If, for practical reasons, it is not possible to obtain this stamp, an alternative supporting document may be attached to the financial identification form. This document must have been issued by the bank and specify the beneficiary’s name and account details (IBAN and SWIFT/BIC). Examples of such a document include: a statement of banking identity; the header of a bank statement indicating the name of the account holder, their SWIFT/BIC code and their IBAN number. Paym ent 6. In what currency are payments made if Members live in currency a country outside the euro area? In this case, payments may be made either in euros or in the official currency of the Member’s country of election or residence. In countries within the euro area, payments are made solely in euros. Exchange rate 7. What exchange rate is applied by Parliament to its Members’ entitlements? Parliament applies the official exchange rate used by the institutions of the European Union in accordance with the Financial Regulation. Euro exchange rates and the applicable monthly accounting rate may be consulted on the Commission’s website. Bank charges  8. Who is liable for bank charges – Members or Parliament? Liability for bank charges is shared between the two parties (transfer based on shared charges). VAT  9. Do Members benefit from tax exemptions, particularly with regard to VAT? page 7

No, such exemptions do not apply to Members of the European Parliament. Tax for the 10. The Statute for Members refers to ‘tax for the benefit of benefit of the the Communities’. What is that? Com m unities  Under Article 12 of the Statute for Members of the European Parliament, Members’ salaries and the transitional allowance and pensions paid to former Members are subject to taxation at source for the benefit of the European Union. National 11. Can the salaries, transitional allowance and pensions taxation referred to above be subject to national taxation? Yes. Member States have the power to make these salaries, transitional allowance and pensions subject to the provisions of national fiscal legislation on the condition that double taxation is avoided. Tax 12. How can I obtain a tax certificate showing the payments certificates received from Parliament? The tax certificates showing the payments made in the previous year are uploaded onto the e-Portal in February each year. Receipt of a 13. What should Members do if they receive a tax tax return declaration form from the Belgian tax administration with issued by the  instructions to complete it, despite not having transferred Belgian tax their main residence to Belgium? adm inistration The Quaestors issue an annual communication containing precise instructions to be followed in such cases. Please see the Quaestors’ intranet page. 2. Remuneration Parliam entary  14. Who is entitled to a parliamentary salary? salary Members of the European Parliament are entitled to a – am ount and  parliamentary salary from the date on which they take up their entitlem ent duties until the last day of the month in which those duties end. page 8