EUROPEAN APANAGE
MIROSŁAW PIOTROWSKI
Salary of the chairman of the European Council is higher than salary of the president of the United States and, depending on the rate of euro, it amounts to 100 thousand zlotys a month
Most people in Poland and Europe associate work in administrative agencies of the European Union with a great financial resource. This issue has even grown into legends and fairly tales but in the EU fairy tale we will find more than the proverbial blade of the truth. Although in Brussels many clerks and parliamentarians complain about the depressing weather, I did not hear that somebody would be unpleased with his apanage. The higher post, the better-paid it is. The office of the chairman of the European Council is perceived as the most lucrative one. For 5 years it was held by the former prime minister of Belgium Herman Van Rompuy, who was replaced by the former prime minister of Poland Donald Tusk in the beginning of this December. The salary of the chairman of the European Council is higher than the salary of the president of the United States and, depending on the rate of euro, it amounts to 100 thousand zlotys a month. A lot of emotions are raised by a single welcome allowance at the amount of 200 thousand zlotys which Donald Tusk received. As if it was not enough, he will receive about 25 thousand zlotys in respect of other allowances monthly. His cadency lasts two and a half years but it can be prolonged up to five years. It was the time in which Herman Van Roumpy was holding his post, after which he stated that he would go on retirement; it means that he will receive 70 percent of his salary a month, and, in addition, for 3 years he will receive a severance pay at the amount of one and a half million zlotys, that is, about 40 thousand zlotys a month. As the British newspapers wrote, he would receive very high apanage for doing nothing. It will be similarly in the case of a new chairman of the Council, assuming that he is elected for the second cadency. In relation to the salary, Tusk is going to have rather very little work, but – as spiteful critics say – he did not work hard in Poland, either. So, would we deal with the exemplification of Oscar Wilde’s statement that ‘the most difficult thing in the world is doing nothing?’. Maybe, however, he will be mobilized to elaborate the European value added in such an important section, not only by the perspective of the EU apanage.
AA
„Niedziela” 51-52/2014