The salaries of judges and prosecutors in the Czech Republic are set to rise by more than 13% from next year, while top elected politicians’ salaries are to increase by around 5%, according to the draft state budget, as reported this weekend by Czech Television (CT).
The new calculation of constitutional officials’ salaries follows a law passed by the ruling coalition in March, after overriding President Petr Pavel’s veto. The opposition ANO and Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) have proposed freezing politicians’ salaries.
The salaries of top elected officials, judges and public prosecutors are to rise automatically from January according to a formula defined by the law. The formula states that politicians’ earnings can never increase by more than 5% from one year to the next.
“This is a consequence of a legislative change based on a ruling of the Constitutional Court… In the case of politicians’ salaries, the increase will be limited, which means that politicians’ salaries cannot increase by more than 5%,” Labour and Social Affairs Minister Marian Jurecka (KDU-CSL) told CT.
“Judges and public prosecutors will see their salaries rise by roughly 13%, unless we were to enforce some kind of upper limit for other constitutional officials as well, as a result of which the limit would also apply to them (judges and prosecutors). But for [top elected] constitutional officials – MPs, senators, the president and so on, it is 5% according to the law,” said Finance Minister Zbynek Stanjura (ODS).
A rank-and-file MP will from 2026 receive a basic monthly salary of CZK 115,000, an increase of CZK 5,500 from this year. The chair of a parliamentary or Senate committee or commission will get a raise of more than CZK 7,500 to nearly CZK 162,000. The basic monthly salary of a minister or deputy speaker will increase by more than CZK 10,000 to CZK 219,300, and the salary of the prime minister or a parliamentary speaker will increase by just under CZK 15,000 to almost CZK 309,000. The president’s income will rise from CZK 365,000 this year to more than CZK 383,000.
Politicians will also see a 5% increase in their compensation for expenses, such as representation or transport.
ANO, the favourite to win in the 3-4 October parliamentary elections, says it would like to freeze politicians’ salaries before the end of the year if it forms the next government. If MPs do not pass this measure before 1 January, a freeze would not apply until 2027.
A district court judge with 15 years of experience will see their salary jump from CZK 158,000 this year to almost CZK 180,000 from January, according to CT calculations. A Supreme Court judge with 25 years of experience will see their monthly salary rise by CZK 28,000 to almost a quarter of a million. The salary of a prosecutor from a district prosecutor’s office with 15 years of experience is set to rise by CZK 19,000 to more than CZK 161,000 next year.
For the state budget, higher salaries in the judiciary are a more significant expense than the salaries of legislators or ministers. There are about 3,000 judges in the Czech Republic, ten times the number of top politicians. There are over 1,000 prosecutors who receive 90% of a judge’s salary, according to CT.
