MP Privileges Annulled

The Constitutional Court decided that the Members of Parliament will retire in accordance with the Law on Pension and Disability Insurance, just like all the other citizens of Macedonia, and annulled a series of provisions from the Law on Members of Parliament Benefits and Privileges that it determined unconstitutional.

No more special privileges for MPs

The Court ruled that the disputed provisions were in violation of the general legal principles, provides for special, privileged conditions for retirement of whole categories of employees, that it doesn�t cover all elected officials and carriers of public offices, and discriminates the citizens of the country.

MPs lost the right to receive additional per-diem allowance for their presence in sessions of Parliament, the right to retire early, after 25 years of experience and 55 years of age for men, i.e. 53 years for women, the right to early retirement after completion of two terms in Parliament, the right to 80 percent pension for the families of dead MPs.

The Court ruled that a Member of Parliament has the right and obligation to participate in the sessions of the Parliament and its Committees, for which he/she receives salary and annulled Article 31, as well as articles 40 through 48, which regulated the early retirement rights.

The Law on MP�s Benefits and Privileges met with strong opposition in the public from the very day it was adopted. Two political parties (VMRO-DPMNE and the Democratic Alliance) submitted initiatives to annul this Law, joined later with three initiatives submitted by individual citizens.