Hungarian deputies to the European parliament received a more than five-fold salary increase to bring their pay closer to those for Euro MP's from the rest of the European Union, under a new law passed here late Monday.

Hungarian members of the European parliament (MEPs) will receive a base monthly salary of 1,072,500 forint (4,206 euros / 5,082 dollars) in Strasbourg, compared to the 198,000 forint pay-check (776 euros) of parliament deputies in Budapest, according to the law.

European parliament members are normally paid the same rate as lawmakers in their home countries, which has produced huge pay gaps among MEPs.

An Italian MEP receives more than 12,000 euros monthly, compared to 2,500 euros for Spanish and 980 euros for Latvian MEPs.

A deal proposed last year to adopt a single salary of about 8,600 euros for MEPs was shot down by Austria, France, Germany and Sweden who said they could not sell such a pay hike to their constituents.