Part IV

An analysis of the evolution of the ECJ’s case law regarding pension systems in general, and pension systems established for specific socio-professional categories in particular, reveals that the Community court’s view of pension rights has undergone major changes. While the ECJ initially characterized the pension beneficiary in relation to the specific principles or characteristics of the pension system in question, it subsequently abandoned this point of reference and analyzed the pension from the perspective of the interdependence between the right to a pension and the employment relationship between the pension beneficiary and their former employer. Thus, once the conditions were established that (i) the pension applies only to a specific category of workers, (ii) the pension is directly linked to the period of service completed, and (iii) the amount of the pension is calculated based on the civil servant’s final salary, the Court has reiterated them, consolidated them conceptually, and even added new dimensions to them in the judgments it has rendered on this matter over time. Therefore, the right to a pension under a social security system established by law—but which meets the criterion of an employment relationship with the three aforementioned conditions included in this concept—falls within the scope of Article 119 of the EEC Treaty (Article 141 of the EC Treaty).

Keywords: social policy, equal treatment of men and women, applicability of Article 119 of the EEC Treaty (Article 141 of the EC Treaty) or Directive 79/7/EEC, the concept of “remuneration,” pension system for civil servants