Due to absences in plenary sessions during the month of July, which also concluded the parliamentary session, the deputies were punished with fines.
Legislators have been penalized with salary deductions from 10 to 60 thousand ALL for lack of participation in the plenary session or in commissions. During the month of July, the majority has the highest number of penalized deputies, where 15 of them were absent.
Blendi Klosi, Eduard Shalsi, Pandeli Majko are some of the socialist legislators who have had around 10,000 Lek deducted from their salary. Plarent Ndreca and Paulin Sterkaj received the highest fine among the leftists with a fine of 30,000 lek.
However, the record for the highest salary penalty is held by the opposition. MP Oriola Nebiaj holds the record for the highest salary withholding of around 60,000 ALL for the month of July alone. Not even MP Andia Ulliri is left behind with a fine of 51,000 Lek, while Enekelejd Alibeaj comes after them with a penalty of 40,000 Lek.
There are 13 deputies in the ranks of the right, who have also received smaller fines such as 10 to 30 thousand lek removal of salary. Currently, members of parliament are paid 310,000 ALL per month, a salary which was doubled in March of the last year with their own votes. Until a year ago, the MP’s salary was 156,770, while it increased to 310,000 ALL.
Meanwhile, the salary of the Prime Minister and the Speaker of the Assembly was about 395,000 Lek, while that of the ministers was about 318,000 Lek gross. Exactly in May of last year, the Parliament voted for the salary increase for MPs, ministers, the president, the prime minister and public administration employees. According to the law, which was passed by the Parliament, the salary of deputies was doubled from 156,770 ALL to 310,250 ALL (2,820 EUR), while that of ministers from 174,760 ALL to 318,750 ALL gross (2,897 EUR).
The salary of the Prime Minister and the Speaker of the Parliament was almost 400,000 ALL (3,636 EUR) from 228,000 ALL. The president’s salary went to 425,000 ALL (3,863 euros) from 257,000 ALL. Along with wages, bonuses were also increased, including reimbursement of fuel, rent and telephone. Meanwhile, the bonuses are not unified, and therefore, they are divided according to the activity of each deputy, and today some of them receive up to 385,000 Lek every month.
The financial statement showed that the payment list reached the value of 57.6 million lek, deposited in the bank accounts of members of the parliament. From the border list of the last month, already executed, it appears that the average income of the deputy in the parliament reaches 440 thousand ALL, or 4.4 million old ALL. The highest salary in the pyramid of the Albanian state is currently that of the President of the Republic, which amounts to 425 thousand ALL. However, the monthly income for MPs exceeds the income of the President, due to high per diems, payments for fuel, telephone and participation in parliamentary committee meetings. The monthly income of deputies, only from the statute of the deputy, will reach up to 5 million old lek per month.
