Vermeiren (pictured), who sits for Open VLD, served from 1981 to 2009 in the federal and Flemish parliaments and in the Senate. He received, according to procedure, the equivalent of 48 months of salary and expenses and a further €99,000 for time spent as secretary of the Flemish parliament.

Vermeiren is also paid as mayor of Zaventem, a post he has held since 1983. He was also chairman of the board of the Municipal Holding, which went broke as a result of the collapse of Dexia bank. He was at the time an ex officio director of Dexia and was paid €72,000 for the last year in 2011 – although he donated the sum to the Municipal Holding.

The issue of parliamentary pay-offs came up last year when Sven Gatz, also a Flemish liberal, applied for one when he resigned from the Brussels parliament to take up a new job. The payments are intended to compensate members who retire or are not re-elected, critics said – not for those who leave for a new job. Gatz eventually declined the payment of around €300,000.

The parliament has before it a proposal to cut the bonuses in half, limiting them to 24 months’ salary.