Three hundred members of the Greek Parliament received their January salary despite the fact that the Parliament was formally closed on December 31st due to proclaimed elections on January 25th. Three hundred MPs saw their parliamentary allowance of 5,500 euro net (€7,000 gross) being credited in their bank accounts, despite the fact that they will not work throughout January and some of them they will not manage to enter the Parliament ever again.
The payments were done on December 27th, the total expenditure coming from the state budget was 2.1 million euro.
Contrary to the common practice, MPs are paid in advance, and Greek media reported that according to a decision by the Regulatory Body, MPs maintain their “parliamentary membership” until the new parliament is sworn in.
Furthermore, “the payment was legal as there is no provision for returning of the money to the state,” media reported stressing that “there were some moral ‘gaps’ in the issue.”
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