King rejects Parliament decision to grant members lifetime pensions

AMMAN –– His Majesty King Abdullah on Monday rejected the draft civil retirement law endorsed by the Parliament last week, which was supposed to grant MPs and Senators lifetime pension benefits, the Royal Court announced on its Twitter account @RHCJO .

On Thursday, the Parliament decided to grant its members lifetime pensions equal to that of ministers, under the draft civil retirement law, after introducing some changes to a previous version in 2012 which the King rejected.

The lawmakers move was met with wide public outrage.

The bill included a provision that sets a minimum of seven years of service in the post as an eligibility requirement for deputies, senators and ministers. In addition, the bill grants all lawmakers who were members of Parliament on May 20, 2010 and henceforth the same benefits.