MEMBERS OF the European Parliament have voted themselves an increase of €1,500 a month in expenses to help them cope with the extra work created by the Lisbon Treaty.

The money must only be used to pay for staff, and can be used to top up the salaries of existing staff or to create a new job. MEPs yesterday approved the increase as an amendment to their 2010 budget.

Up to now they had a €17,540 monthly staff budget. However they argued that an increase was necessary to cope with the increased powers and responsibilities conferred on the parliament by the Lisbon Treaty.

Fine Gael MEP Mairéad McGuinness said she had some reservations about approving the increase but said the money could be used by Irish MEPs to create more jobs for Irish people.

“This is a difficult time to ask people outside the parliament accept us voting for an increase, but there are extra duties associated with the Lisbon Treaty and I am inundated with CVs of people looking for jobs or work experience, and it would be Irish people who would get these jobs.”

Meanwhile economic and monetary affairs commissioner Olli Rehn has asked MEPs to encourage support in their home countries for EU “fiscal surveillance” and regulatory reform plans.

The need for an economic union to complement monetary union was “the critical lesson” to be learned from the economic crisis, Mr Rehn said.

He was speaking yesterday at a debate on the EU2020 plans to improve the long-term economic competitiveness of the union.

There were three strands to recovery, he said. “First of all we need to continue with immediate crisis-resolution, with vigilance with Greece and elsewhere in Europe.”

Next was a need for the regulatory reform of financial markets which were a “good servant” but a “bad master”.

Finally there was a need to move quickly to make decisions to reinforce the economic governance of the EU through “preventative fiscal surveillance”.

Independent MEP Marian Harkin said she supported Mr Rehn in regard to the scrutiny of member states’ budgets.

Fine Gael MEP Gay Mitchell said that while member states must be disciplined, it needed to be asked whether “sinister elements” were using the markets to damage the euro.