Official Journal of the European Union

C 37/21

(Case C-559/07)

(2008/C 37/31)

Language of the case: Greek

Parties

Applicant: Commission of the European Communities (represented by: M. Patakia and M.van Beek)

Defendant: Hellenic Republic

Form of order sought

—declare that, by maintaining in force the provisions concerning different retirement ages and different minimum-service requirements for men and women under the Greek Civil and Military Pensions Code, the Hellenic Republic has failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 141 of the EC Treaty;

—order the Hellenic Republic to pay the costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments

The Commission, after examining the provisions in force of the Greek Civil and Military Pensions Code, found that they provide that women are entitled to a retirement pension at a different age from men and under different conditions regarding the minimum period of service required.

In the light of the Court of Justice's case-law, the Commission submits that the pensions in question, which are paid by an employer to a former worker as a consequence of the employment relationship between them, constitute pay within the meaning of Article 141 EC. Furthermore, because of the particular nature of the pension systems in question, under which pensions depend on the period of service completed and on the worker's salary prior to grant of a pension, the persons drawing a pension constitute, in the Commission's view, ‘a particular category of workers’, while the method of financing and managing the pension system does not constitute a decisive factor for the application of Article 141 EC.

Also, in the Commission's submission, the conditions for application of Article 141(4) EC, which concerns providing for specific advantages to make it easier for the underrepresented sex to pursue a vocational activity, are not met. In this instance, the provisions in question do not help to correct the problems which women may face in their professional careers but, on the contrary, facilitate their withdrawal from the labour market.

Furthermore, the justification pleaded, regarding the State mechanism being caused to malfunction and the consequent laying down of transitional provisions, is not persuasive in the Commission's view because, first, economic consequences which could result for a Member State do not justify in themselves the temporal restriction of the application of rules of Community law and, second, the Hellenic Republic has not in practice demonstrated the existence and precise nature of the malfunctioning pleaded.

Consequently, the Commission considers that, by maintaining in force provisions concerning different retirement ages and different minimum-service requirements for men and women under the Greek Civil and Military Pensions Code, the Hellenic Republic has failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 141 EC.