The additional expenses which lawmakers incurred in 2023 for living away from home allowance (LAFHA), travel costs for business trips and other perks reached €1.1 million, the Croatian parliament said in a report it has published on its website.

The monthly wages of the 151 parliamentarians ranged between €1,800 and €3,000 in 2023 depending on their years of service and personal allowances (i.e. non-taxable portions of income), number of dependent family members etc, and the average monthly pay for lawmakers was €2,326 in 2023.

The members of the Croatian parliament were also entitled to other allowances such as coverage of costs for living away from home, usage of one’s own cars for business trips, and this cost €1.1 million last year.

There were 84 MPs who lived outside Zagreb in 2023, and a total of €95,840 was disbursed for LAFHA last year.

The sum of slightly over €300,000 was disbursed for accommodation rents for lawmakers whose permanent abode is at least 50 kilometres of Zagreb.

The use of MPs’ private cars for their business trips cost the most, €409,000.

In 2023, 50 MPs traveled by air for business purposes, and the Sabor earmarked €151,000 for flight tickets. Hotel accommodation cost approximately €100,000.

Considering travel and other expenses, Domagoj Hajdukovic (Social Democrats), the chairmen of the committees for European affairs and for inter-parliamentary cooperation, had the highest costs due to his frequent business trips abroad. (€34,000), his party colleague, Davor Bernardic followed (€27,700), while Davor Ivo Stier (HDZ) incurred the costs of €25,300 for travel expenses, and Zvonimr Troskot of Bridge €23,000.

A total of 32 MPs, who live in Zagreb and its surrounding, had no other costs and received only wages in 2023.