- On Tuesday, deputies approved a freeze on politicians salaries until 2026
- If the Senate does not support the proposal to keep MPs’ salary frozen, their pay will increase by another 6% in January.
- Critics of the Andrej Babiš called the salary freeze proposal of politicians as a last-ditch effort to win the public opinion after Pandora papers
For the next five years, the Czech Parliament’s Lower House has approved a wage freeze for elected politicians as proposed by Prime Minister Andrej Babiš(ANO). A total of 133 of the 134 deputies voted in favor of the law, which will now be forwarded to the Senate for approval. The law can end the continuous growth in politicians’ monthly salaries during the previous decade while every significant political party in the House supported the wage freeze.
Last year politicians’ wages rose by 10%, reaching CZK 90,800 a month for MPs, CZK 173,200 for ministers, CZK 243,800 for the prime minister, and CZK 302,700 for the president. If the Senate does not support the proposal to keep MPs’ salaries frozen, their pay will increase by another 6% in January. Senators will have to consider it after the end of the parliamentary term.
It would be “scandalous” for politicians’ salaries to rise further, according to Prime Minister Andrej Babiš. He also mentioned that he should be ashamed of wage growth for politicians because it will be based on taxpayers’ money.
Critics of Andrej Babiš called the salary freeze proposal of politicians a last-ditch effort to win the public opinion before the elections. They also think that there is an immediate connection between the proposal and Pandora Papers scandal in which the Czech Prime Minister is blamed for buying property illegally for tax-evasion purposes.