Officials working in the European Union’s institutions today (15 January) received their first paycheque following the expiration of a 5.5% crisis levy on their base salaries.

The levy expired because the member states have failed to adopt a position on a new statute for officials, blocking the start of negotiations with the European Commission and MEPs. A proposal by Maroš Šefčovič, the European commissioner for administration and inter-institutional relations, to prolong by one year the levy and the method used to calculate officials’ annual salary adjustments was turned down by the member states last month.     

The levy, which in its current form dates to 2004, applies to base salaries above a certain threshold; allowances, such as a 16% expatriate allowance, are exempt from the levy. This means that the expiration of the levy does not translate into a simple 5.5% pay rise either individually or overall.

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