Spanish Politicians on the dole

AN online internet petition is asking Spanish MPs and Senators to forego interim pay.

They are entitled to this once parliament has been dissolved and 530,000 people signed the Change.org petition entitled “Si no curras, no cobras” (Unless you work you don’t get paid) on the first day.

Spanish MPs from Standing Committees of the Lower Chamber and Senate that represent the different parliamentary groups will be paid but the remainder no longer receive salaries.

Instead they may request a “transition indemnity” to compensate for lack of earnings until they are re-elected, although this incompatible with any other type of income.

The compensation is calculated on an MP or Senator’s basic pay plus complements for additional parliamentary duties and is paid as a taxable lump sum between €2,972 and €4,500. This rises to a maximum of €8,822 for Senators,

A total of 213 MPs are entitled to compensation but the petition urges them and senators to renounce owing to the brevity of the last legislation.

It sat for only five months, two of them in the summer, the petition organisers pointed out.