Italy has the highest paid Prime Minister in the European Union. Although the country is strongly affected by the economic crisis, the italian politicians do not want to tighten their belts and start to feel the impact of their austerity measures. Below, the top 20 highest paid politicians of the European Union according to ISTAT.

01. Mario Monti, Italy’s MP – $175.000
02. Mark Rutte, Netherland’s MP – $135.000, per year
03. Werner Faymann, Austria’s, MP – $125.000, per year
04. Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancelor – $120.000, per year
05. Elio Di Rupo, Belgium’s MP – $120.000, per year
06. Nicolas Sarkozy, France’s president – $115.000, per year
07. Enda Kenny Irelan’s MP – $103.000, per year
08. David Cameron, UK’s MP – $98.000, per year
09. Helle Thorning-Schmidt, Denmark’s MP – $83.000, per year
10. Fredrik Reinfeldt Sweden’s MP – $78.000, per year
11. Jyrki Katainen, Finland’s MP – $76.000, per year
12. Jean-Claude Juncker, Luxembourg’s MP – $73.000 per year
13. Lucas Papademos, Greece’s MP – $70.000, per year
14. Viktor Orbán, Hungary’s MP – $66.000, per year
15. Borut Pahor, Slovenia’s MP – $58.000, per year
16. Passos Coelho, Portugal’s MP – $47.000 per year
17. Demetris Christofias, Cypru’s president – $44.000 per year
18. Andrus Ansip, Estonia’s MP – $41.000, per year
19. Mariano Rajoy, Spain’s MP – $40.000, per year
20. Donald Tusk, Poland’s MP – $33.000 per year