ALI Article for “Dzerkalo Tyzhnia”
When the Unified State Register of Tax Returns reopened in early 2024, it was discovered that MPs’ declared income was sometimes half that of the top officials of the Verkhovna Rada’s Secretariat. Thus, dissatisfaction with this situation began to spread in the media as part of society, and MPs considered it unfair. Is this distribution fair? Where did this salary ratio come from? Let’s try to study the issue consistently.
How is the salary of MPs and employees of the VRU Secretariat formed?
The salaries of MPs and employees of the Secretariat have one thing in common: they consist of a salary and supplements. But this is where the similarity ends, as the salaries of civil servants (employees of the Secretariat) and MPs are calculated differently. It is more appropriate to compare salaries since supplements are often individual (for example, for length of service).
The Cabinet of Ministers determines the salaries of the Secretariat’s staff by its resolution, which sets out the levels of state bodies, as well as the categories and types of positions for all civil servants. The Secretariat is the highest-level state body and has the highest salary level in the public sector. Quite logically, the Secretariat’s top officials receive almost five times higher salaries (up to UAH 40,100 per month) than its ordinary employees (from UAH 8,700 per month). In other words, top Secretariat officials receive large salaries as managers, and these salaries are higher than those of top officials of other state bodies because they work at the highest level of the state body.
The Cabinet of Ministers does not set the salaries of MPs. According to the law, MPs’ salaries are set by the Verkhovna Rada by adopting a relevant resolution. For example, the salary of an ordinary MP is 10 subsistence minimums (UAH 24,810 per month in 2022), and the salary of the Chair of the Verkhovna Rada is 12 subsistence minimums (UAH 29,772 per month in 2022). The difference between the salaries of an ordinary MP and the Chair of the Verkhovna Rada is only 20%.
Important: We provide data for 2022 because this year was used to compare the salaries of MPs and civil servants, which led to dissatisfaction with this ratio in other files. In 2023 and 2024, the wages of MPs exceeded the 2022 level. Thus, in 2023, the salary of an MP amounted to UAH 26,840, and in 2024, it will be UAH 30,280.
However, in addition to their salaries, MPs receive several other types of compensation: for example, for travel expenses (approximately UAH 90,000 per MP in 2022) or rent (in 2022, an average of 100 MPs received compensation, which amounted to approximately UAH 290,000 per MP per year). Of course, not all MPs receive them. For example, only MPs who do not live in Kyiv are eligible for compensation for rent.
Is the ratio of MPs’ salaries to those of the Secretariat staff fair?
The situation in which independent and professional civil servants receive higher salaries than politicians is not unique to Ukraine. In particular, the EU is interested in attracting professionals to the civil service, so it provides its independent and professional civil servants with high salaries. A comparison of salaries of top civil servants in the EU and members of the European Parliament, or the highest-paid parliamentarians in EU member states (Italy and Germany), shows that civil servants receive twice as much as members of parliament. If we compare the salaries of top officials with the more common salaries of members of national parliaments in EU countries (EUR 2-3K), the difference is tenfold.
Both European experience and common sense show that the logic of setting salaries for both civil servants (including employees of the Verkhovna Rada Secretariat) and MPs should not be based on their mathematical comparison. This logic should be based on ensuring decent salaries proportional to the level of responsibility, which will allow attracting professional and talented people to state management rather than stimulating corrupt practices.
The 2023 SIGMA Public Administration Assessment shows that civil servants’ salaries are not competitive with the private sector, and staff turnover has risen to a critical level during the war. Naturally, the salaries of MPs do not look competitive either against this background. This is undoubtedly a problem, but there is a solution for MPs.
Who and how can change the level of MPs’ remuneration?
The paradox is that MPs, unlike civil servants, can increase their salaries by simply changing the relevant resolution. This step requires neither the approval of the Cabinet of Ministers nor the signature of the President of Ukraine. This is an issue to be solved exclusively by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. Moreover, this also means that other bodies do not have the authority to increase the salaries of MPs. Neither the President nor the Cabinet of Ministers, the regional council, the public council, or the garage cooperative have the authority to increase their salaries. Only MPs themselves can rectify the situation, which they believe to be unfair. And this is a real problem.
Ukrainian MPs cannot agree on potentially unpopular decisions. No one wants to take on such responsibility in the context of populist discourse. To explain complex and unpopular decisions to voters, one must be sufficiently subjective and demonstrate leadership and responsibility that are uncommon in Ukrainian politics. This applies to many decisions that are important for public administration.
Moreover, the unwillingness to make these decisions actually makes the Parliament dependent on other branches of power. MPs failed to create a separate parliamentary service, so the government sets the salaries of the VRU Secretariat staff. Relatively low wages of MPs create conditions for extra-parliamentary interest groups to convert their informal support of MPs into influence on parliamentary decision-making.
In conclusion, one cannot help but notice the most interesting details. The rules for calculating salaries (and, accordingly, their ratio) of the Secretariat’s staff and MPs have not undergone any significant changes in recent years. If we compare the tax returns of the Secretariat’s staff holding senior positions and MPs, we can see that the ratio of salaries was approximately the same in 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023. However, for some reason, the problem became more relevant in the public space in early 2024. MPs’ public dissatisfaction with this issue was also revealed only in early 2024. So, maybe it’s time to take responsibility and try to solve the problem: if not for themselves, then at least for the next convocation.
