The measure stems from a proposed amendment to the State Budget for 2026 (OE2026).
The initiative was initially rejected in today’s vote but was eventually approved at the end of the day when parties adjusted their voting decisions.
The regulation requires the Government to collaborate with the representative structures of the external service employees of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to undertake a comprehensive review and update of allowances for employees assigned to all external services of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs next year.
The PAN party notes in the initiative’s explanation that the structure and amounts of the current allowances have not undergone a global revision for about three decades. Although the State Budget for 2025 already anticipated their update, the values generally remain unchanged despite the significant global cost of living increase and a more than 150% average rent increase in major world cities since 2003.
Now, in making the update, the executive must consider a series of indicators.
The approved legislation mandates the Government to take into account “the inflation verified since the last revision of the allowances,” the “exchange rate variation between the euro and the currencies of the countries where the employees are placed,” “statistics from major international organizations on the cost of living, particularly those used as references for the European External Action Service,” and “the additional family and social costs and difficulties, especially in class C or D peripheral external services.”
One of the principles guiding improvements is that the update of the diplomatic activity allowance should ensure “the maintenance of purchasing power in line with the real evolution of living costs at each post.”
In the specific case of updating the housing allowance, the revision must guarantee three requirements: the “effective capability to rent adequate, healthy, and safe housing in local markets,” the “differentiation of amounts based on family size,” and the “consideration of actual rental prices in each placement city’s markets.”
In the proposal’s rationale, the PAN advocates improving the conditions of the diplomatic career to strengthen the State’s external action at a time when the international context is “marked by increasing unpredictability.”
