MPs receive €685 a month in travel allowance without receipts

Politics economympparliamentTop News MPs receive €685 a month in travel allowance without receipts Epidoma Odoiporikwn Vouleftes 1024x576 Relevant News Facebook users report login and homepage problems 19 July 2026 MPs receive €685 a month in travel allowance without receipts 19 July 2026 AKEL weighs Mavroyiannis return as divisions deepen across the right 19 July 2026 Charalambos Zakos 19 July 2026 FacebookXWhatsAppEmailPrintViber Multiple pensions and other benefits received by state officials have drawn public and political scrutiny for some time, prompting efforts by the government and political parties to end the system for former office-holders. But another issue has emerged that may prove equally controversial: the travel allowance paid to MPs, particularly how it is calculated, paid and monitored. The allowance continues to be deposited into MPs’ accounts even when parliament is officially closed for the summer recess, other breaks or election campaigns. Each MP receives €685 a month in travel allowance, equivalent to €8,220 a year. For all 56 MPs, the total cost is €38,360 a month or €460,320 a year. The allowance is tax-free and, at least in a way that can be publicly verified, is not linked to each MP’s actual journeys or expenses. The central question is not whether MPs should be reimbursed for travel undertaken as part of their duties. It is how the €685 figure is calculated, which journeys it covers and how authorities establish whether it reflects each MP’s actual costs. Official Treasury figures show that the same flat-rate amount is paid to all MPs as part of a wider remuneration package that also includes a basic salary, representation expenses and a secretarial allowance, together amounting to several thousand euros a month. Even if MPs travel all 365 days The scale of the allowance can be illustrated using the most favourable possible assumption for MPs. Assume they never take holidays, miss no days because of illness or other commitments, never travel abroad and are never outside Cyprus. Assume they make work-related journeys every day of the year, including weekends, public holidays, Christmas, Easter and parliament’s summer recess. Even under that extreme assumption, €8,220 a year works out at €22.52 a day across all 365 days. Assuming an average car consumes seven litres of petrol per 100 kilometres and petrol costs €1.40 a litre, fuel for every 100 kilometres costs €9.80. On that basis, the allowance is equivalent to enough petrol to cover about 230 kilometres every day of the year. That amounts to nearly 83,900 kilometres a year for each MP. This calculation does not mean MPs claim to drive 84,000 kilometres or that the entire allowance is intended only for petrol. It is an indicative conversion of the payment into fuel costs to show its scale and assess whether it reflects genuine needs or could be considered excessive. Even allowing €2 to €3 a day for wear and tear on a vehicle — between €60 and €90 a month, or €600 to €900 a year — the amount would still more than cover vehicle maintenance. Even under the unrealistic assumption that an MP travels for official purposes on all 365 days of the year, with vehicle wear and tear included, the allowance still corresponds to about 200 kilometres a day. The key question is which official journeys could justify that distance. Nearly 140 circuits of the government-controlled areas Another comparison further illustrates the scale. A circuit of the government-controlled areas of Cyprus is estimated at about 600 kilometres. The annual total of 83,900 kilometres is therefore equivalent to nearly 140 full circuits in one year. In fuel terms, the allowance paid to each MP would cover a complete circuit of the government-controlled areas roughly every two and a half days. For all 56 MPs, the corresponding distance exceeds 4.69 million kilometres a year, or almost 7,830 circuits of the government-controlled areas. Parliament open for about 200 days The previous calculation used all 365 days to provide the most favourable possible scenario for MPs. Parliament does not, however, hold committee or plenary sessions every day of the year. A more realistic, though still favourable, calculation is based on about 200 days. These are not the actual attendance days of each MP. They are the working days on which parliament is open and committee or plenary proceedings take place. Not every MP attends parliament on all 200 days. MPs do not sit on all the same committees, committees do not meet daily and several may meet on the same day. MPs may also be absent, travelling abroad or attending to other commitments. The 200-day calculation therefore assumes that every MP goes to parliament on every working day when parliamentary business takes place, regardless of whether they attend a meeting. Based on 200 days, the annual payment of €8,220 is equivalent to €41.10 a day. Using the same fuel consumption and petrol price, €41.10 would pay for about 419 kilometres of travel on every day parliament is open. In other words, when calculated on the basis of parliamentary working days, the allowance is equivalent to more than 400 kilometres a day. Commuting is not the same as official travel Beyond the size of the payment, another basic question arises: what exactly qualifies as official travel? Under standard civil service practice, the daily journey from home to the workplace is not normally covered as a travel expense. Civil servants are generally reimbursed for travel between two or more locations during the same working day from their place of work, rather than for travelling from home to the office and back. Official travel is therefore a journey from the workplace to another location to carry out a specific duty, not the everyday home-to-work commute. It should therefore be clarified what the €685 covers. Does it cover travelling from home to parliament and back? Does it cover journeys from parliament to ministries, government departments, site visits and other locations? Does it cover visits to electoral districts, election gatherings, festivals, memorial services or funerals? Or does it cover all of these without distinction? If the allowance mainly covers travel between home and parliament, why is the same amount paid to an MP living next to parliament and one travelling from Paphos, Limassol or another district? If it mainly covers journeys from parliament to other locations, what are those journeys and how can fuel for 84,000 kilometres a year, or about 420 kilometres on every parliamentary working day, be justified? Audit gap raised in 2017 Concerns over the monitoring of MPs’ travel allowances are not new. In a 2017 report on parliament’s accounts, the then auditor-general — now an MP and leader of Alma — said the flat-rate allowance was not linked to the actual cost of travel and recommended tying it to real travel expenses. The report also noted that the allowance was paid regardless of MPs’ attendance at committee and plenary sessions. He is now an MP, and both he and Alma’s other MPs receive the allowance. Under normal circumstances, Alma would therefore be expected to raise the issue in parliament so that it can be debated and regulated. Subscribe to our Newsletter Latest News Facebook users report login and homepage problems AKEL weighs Mavroyiannis return as divisions deepen across the right Nine minority religious monuments restored in occupied Cyprus, Armenian monastery next Nixon’s undelivered letter to Ecevit and its alleged role in Cyprus’s invasion US renews strikes on Iran after two military personnel killed by Iranian attack Conflict-of-interest gaps return to spotlight after ‘State Mafia’ and Videogate appointments 33-year-old critically injured in Aradippou stabbing, suspect remanded (updated) Follow en.philenews on Google News and be the first to know all the news about Cyprus and the world.