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Food allowance, fuel, paid phone: How much does a deputy cost us?

2026-03-06 18:26:20Politikë SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX

Food allowance, fuel, paid phone: How much does a deputy cost us?

At the beginning of January, Speaker of Parliament Niko Peleshi had 218,450 lek net transferred to his bank account for just two items; food allowance and housing rent, plus 395,000 lek salary and several other bonuses such as a vehicle available for any movement and unlimited phone.

"Reimbursement for housing rent is determined by decision 114 dated 24.12.2014, 'On the treatment of deputies'," says the Parliament in its official response to Faktoje.al.

"Mr. Niko Peleshi, Speaker of the Albanian Parliament, has completed all relevant documentation according to the aforementioned decision, including the negative certification from the State Cadastre Agency," the Parliament says about the item "rent" for which Peleshi receives 35,000 lek each month.

Faktoje.al provided a list with data on the "treatment of MPs" for four months.

In total, the figures for per diems, fuel and telephone expenses range from 16,000,000 to 19,000,000 lek for 129 MPs in a month (the rest (out of 140) even though they are MPs, receive salaries and treatment as ministers).

Diet, fuel and telephone

"Until 2023, when the salary increase took place, the differences in salaries between MPs and ordinary people were not large, while after this year they have deepened relatively much," says economic expert Ilir Brasha to Faktoje.al.

In total, for the month of December, 4,472,483 lek were spent on MPs under the item "fuel", while 2,173,500 lek were spent on the item "telephone payment", about 60 thousand euros for both bonuses. The largest amount spent on MPs is the item "daily expenses for domestic travel".

For the month of December, 7,981,017 lek were paid for the food of the deputies. This amount varies from month to month, but it is always around 8-8.5 million lek, always new.

In addition to many others ranging from 1-1.3 million new lek in total for committee meetings, the item "housing rent" has also seen an increase for January of this year.

In addition to Speaker Peleshi, there are 15 other MPs who receive rent bonuses. Of this number, 14 MPs benefiting from the rent bonus belong to the Socialist Party and only two to the Democratic Party.

The law for oneself

Lawmakers took care of themselves twice, in 2014 and 2023. In the first case, they determined the per diems, the cost of fuel, the telephone, and new fees for participation in parliamentary committees, while in 2023 they revised salaries, increasing them by 60%, or to the value of 395,000 lek, about 4 thousand euros. In Law No. 114 of 2014, lawmakers radically changed the value of per diems and other bonuses such as fuel and telephone, increasing them significantly.

Point seven of the decision states: "The MP benefits from a daily allowance, for days of service within the country, at the rate of 4 percent of the basic salary and hotel costs of up to 3,000 lek per night, against the tax invoice and the attached electronic cash register printout."

While MPs residing in the Tirana district benefit from daily allowances up to 6 days per month for days of service outside the Tirana district. Focusing on fuel and telephone expenses, each MP residing in Tirana, Durrës, Lezhë and Elbasan benefits from 30-33,700 lekë, while for other districts 40 thousand lekë.

A "halo" that still costs in 2025

Another payment that has remained standard is the telephone. Since 2014, MPs have been given 17,000 lek for telephone expenses and 20,000 lek for parliamentary group chairs.

Faktoje.al verified the telephone tariffs offered by mobile companies in the country. Monthly payments for unlimited telephone and internet, even with hundreds of minutes for international calls, range from 2500-3000 lek per month. Although telephone tariffs have decreased year after year, the payments for MPs for this item remain high, fixed at 17,000 lek per month.

MPs who reject excessive compensation

The MPs who have refused the "fatty diets" for several months turn out to be Bujar Leskaj, Agron Shehaj, Sali Berisha and Blendi Klosi. In fact, Leskaj stands out from all of them. Although he appears to participate in the meetings of the parliamentary committees, in addition to refusing the "food bills", he has not received even 17 thousand lek for telephone service. From the analysis of four months of expenses for MPs, Leskaj, Shehaj, Berisha and Klosi result in receiving less of the privileged treatment for MPs.

The rest of the MPs appear in considerable amounts in the item "food allowance within the country", where the most frequent rate displayed in this item is 148,920 lekë per month for each. If there are a few MPs on the list who cost us "cheap", the rest are in quite high figures, some of whom have a fixed rate, receiving the maximum possible.

Antoneta Dhima, the MP who doesn't tolerate any diet

From the analysis of expenses, it results that the deputies: Antoneta Dhima, Ilirjan Pendavinji, Asfloral Haxhiu, Greta Bardeli, Elton Korreshi, Zegjine Çaushi, Fadil Nasufi, Hatixhe Konomi, Gazmend Bardhi, Eljo Mile, Fidel Kreka, Ana Dajko, etc., have received the maximum possible amounts each month, which in total amount to 300,000 thousand lekë, not counting the salary.

The greatest value is mainly gained in the item "food allowance within the country" at its maximum value of 148,920 lek. "This figure, taking into account a maximum of 22 working days, shows a cost of about 6,500 lek per day, which is relatively high for the Albanian context," says economic expert Ilir Brasha. (Faktoje.al)


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