The deputies will receive a minimum of 4,085 euros per month, will have a new iPhone and must declare assets and interests

They will have to identify their employers from the last five years and will not be able to accept gifts

MADRID, 22 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The 350 deputies who are elected in the elections this Sunday will earn a monthly minimum of 4,085.64 euros, they will be able to release a next-generation iPhone (valued at about 1,200 euros), although they will have to wait to have their iPad. In addition, they must declare their assets and give an account of their private and professional interests, specifying which companies they have been charging from until now.

The new owners of the seats in Congress will receive their first salary at the end of August, the month of the constitutive session of the Chamber, scheduled for the 17th of that month, in which they will formally take office by swearing or promising the Constitution. But that first payroll will also include the proportional part of the salary corresponding to the days between July 24 and 31.

The basic allowance will be 3,126.89 euros gross per month, the same for all deputies, to which are added supplements depending on their role in the Chamber and a net compensation (without taxes) for expenses derived from their parliamentary activity in the capital: 958.75 euros per month for those elected by Madrid and 2,008.61 euros for the rest.

The new deputies, in addition to the aforementioned 'base salary', and compensation for representation expenses may receive a series of supplements for representation expenses and freely available depending on the parliamentary position they hold.

The maximums are those received by the spokespersons of the parliamentary groups (2,969.4 euros per month) and the four vice-presidents of the Chamber (3,258.85), until reaching the extra 10,181.99 euros reserved for the Presidency of the institution.

The Congress will also cover the transport costs of the deputies by paying the ticket price directly to the transport company, unless the parliamentarians use their own vehicle, for which they will be paid 0.25 euros per kilometer as long as the journey is duly justified.

Those who do not have an official car will have at their disposal, as has been the case since 2006, a card for their trips by taxi in Madrid with a limit of 3,000 euros per year.

The deputies who already had a seat and manage to renew it will be able to continue using the iPhone phones they had in the previous legislature and the new ones will also receive their corresponding terminals.

Earlier this year, Congress acquired a new consignment of mobile phones for deputies --iPhone 14 Pro, with 512 GB capacity--. According to what parliamentary sources have informed Europa Press, the Chamber has enough terminals to supply the same model to those who are now debuting in the institution.

THE IPAD WILL HAVE TO WAIT

Those who keep their seats will be able to continue with the iPads they used in the previous legislature, but the new ones will have to wait to have theirs until the Chamber calls a new competition for their acquisition.

Likewise, the deputies elected on Sunday will have to comply with the Code of Conduct of the Cortes Generales approved in October 2020, which obliges them not only to present the already traditional declarations of assets and activities but also a third one of "economic interests".

The deputies of the previous legislature presented this declaration of interests in February 2021 and not at the beginning of the legislature despite the fact that the Code of Ethics that only affected Congress and that contemplated a similar measure was already in force at that time.

In that document, which will be public on the Congress website, like the other two statements, they will have to record the activities they have carried out in the last five years and "that may condition their political activity or have provided them with economic income." In the case of activities for others, they must specify the name of the employer and the sector of their activity.

They must also report unpaid donations, gifts and benefits of any kind that they have obtained for themselves in the last five years, including trips and invitations to leisure, sports and cultural activities that, due to their economic value or any other circumstance, may be relevant for the purposes of a possible conflict of interest.

The Code of Conduct also obliges their lordships to refuse "gifts or benefits that may reasonably be perceived as an attempt to influence their conduct." In addition, the new deputies must make their institutional agenda public, including their meetings with 'lobbies', an obligation that very few have fulfilled in the XIV Legislature.