Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)

It seems to contradict the principle of the legislation, as there will be a European salary but a national taxation system. I know that all human decisions are not perfect, but that seems to be a strange contradiction. From time to time, various budgetary elements are introduced such as levies. Do these apply to MEPs? Do they apply to new MEPs? MEPs that are re-elected can chose to continue with the national salary rather than the European parity salary, so it would seem that there will be two distinct salary payments and two distinct taxation systems. We need some clarification on this point.

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