Higher wages for countryside priests

One day after the prime minister and the Central Bank governor shook hands on promoting an austerity budget, the Senate decided to increase 25% the salaries for rural localities priests, a professional category which, despite the theoretical political neutrality, has a rather wide influence on the peasants’ political decision-making process. The initiative was voted in favor with 61 votes and only 3 abstentions. The law draft also includes modifications for high-ranked clergy, up to some 2,500 euro per month for the Patriarch. The draft still has to be approved by the House of Deputies, which has the final word.