BRUSSELS, Belgium – Some members of the European Parliament have been offered pay raises of up to 900% – but British members are likely to take a pay cut.

In a radical reform of salaries, the Council of Ministers, representing E.U. governments, offered members of European Parliament a uniform package of $8,600 a month. This replaces the current arrangement whereby members of European Parliament receive the same as members of parliament from their respective home countries.

As a vital quid pro quo for the new arrangement, members of European Parliament will also be asked to agree to major changes in their sleaze-ridden expenses system. The new deal would offer huge pay raises for members of European Parliament from the poorest member states, such as Hungary, who currently receive just over $900 a month. But it involves a salary cut for British members, who currently receive $9,500 a month, in line with salaries of members of Parliament in Westminster.

However, a new system for contributing to pension funds will ensure that, overall, British members of European Parliament will not be out of pocket under the new package.

The leader of the British Conservatives in the European Parliament, Timothy Kirkhope, welcomed moves to reform expenses, but said: “We have reservations about what would amount to a pay cut for British MEPs.”

There had been fears that Italian members, the highest paid, would veto the deal, which has been years in the making. In theory, the new common salary should involve a steep plunge in their 90,000-pounds-a-year salaries.

But sitting Italian members of European Parliament will now be granted “top-up” bonuses, paid for by the Italian government, preserving their current salaries until 2019.

In return, by 2009, all members must move to an expenses system based on the principle that the parliament should only reimburse members for money they have actually spent.

At the moment, members are reimbursed at a generous fixed rate for flights from their constituencies to and from Brussels or Strasbourg. By buying cheaper fares in advance, or using budget airlines, a British member can easily make $730 to $910 profit in a week.

Such profits are perfectly legal under the current rules. The system does not require receipts to be submitted for travel or staff claims.

The new deal, thrashed out in long negotiations between the Parliament and Luxembourg, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, also offers members free basic pensions, paid for by the taxpayer.

At present, individual member states decide on rules for pensions for their members, and Britain diverts 10% of the salaries of members of European Parliament into the Westminster-based parliamentary pensions system.

British members of European Parliament will now have their basic pension paid from the main E.U. budget – a gain of about $950 a month, which cancels out the British “pay cut.”

Only two months ago, members of European Parliament voted to preserve their current arrangements by a margin of six to four at a full session of the assembly in Strasbourg.

However party leaders have assured the Council of Ministers that “this is a deal they can deliver,” diplomats said.The council agreed to make a formal written offer to the Parliament, which could come up for vote as early as June 22.