Fact check: Can MEPs skip the line at airports?

Can MEPs skip the line at airports? Do they get free first-class train tickets? What about their "luxurious expenses"?

Being elected a Member of the European Parliament comes with a range of benefits, including overhead allowances, travel costs reimbursements and money for meals.

These advantages have sparked online conversations about what exactly MEPs are entitled to, and whether it’s fair that they get them.

The discourse took a different turn when Fidias Panayiotou, a well-known YouTuber and independent Cypriot MEP, posted a video on Instagram in which he showed his new diplomatic passport as a newly elected member of parliament.

In the video, he says the passport allows politicians to skip the line at the airport while also granting them free visas for countries that require them.

Panayiotou claims that while the passports allow politicians who travel a lot to do their jobs more efficiently, it could be seen as unfair to regular people who have to wait in line for lengthy passport checks.

A post shared by Fidias Panayiotou (@fidias0)

We contacted the European Parliament, whose press service told us that MEPs don’t get a passport with diplomatic status, privileges, or immunities.

The Parliament said MEPs are obliged to respect customs and exchange controls.

It added though that MEPs can get a “laissez-passer,” which they can use as a secure travel document for activities related to their parliamentary work only, in countries that recognise it as a valid travel document.

What Panayiotou appears to be holding in his video is a diplomatic passport issued by the Cypriot government.

These passports, given by national governments, do confer certain advantages, like quicker diplomatic lanes at airports and waived visa requirements.

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