Starting in April, around 66,000 European Union employees will get their seventh pay raise in just three years. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will see the largest increase, with her monthly salary jumping by €2,700 to €34,800, as reported by Bild on March 24.
The pay hike will raise the lowest salary for EU staff from €3,361 to €3,645 by 2024, while those at the highest pay grade will see their earnings go up from €23,262 to €25,229. Commissioners’ salaries will also rise by €2,200, bringing their monthly pay to about €28,400.
Though EU officials usually receive annual salary adjustments based on inflation, the recent high inflation rates have led to more frequent and substantial raises. Ironically, the European Commission opposes automatic wage indexation in some member states, like Belgium, arguing it increases labor costs and sparks wage-price spirals.
To manage the increases, the EU introduced a moderation clause, capping the initial raise at 2%, with the rest applied nine months later. Salary adjustments for EU officials are calculated based on the Joint Index, which tracks cost-of-living changes for staff in Belgium and Luxembourg. This is done using Belgium’s Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) and Luxembourg’s Consumer Prices Index (CPI).
Inflation spiked in 2022, reaching 11.5% in the EU and 10.6% in the Eurozone, mainly due to the aftermath of the Covid pandemic. By February 2025, inflation had dropped to 2.7% in the EU and 2.3% in the Eurozone.
Additionally, some EU officials, like Charles Michel, have received generous severance pay. When Michel stepped down as President of the European Council in September, he was given a “transitional allowance” of €260,000, a move that sparked criticism.
