Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:1999:231
Date: 1999-05-04
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Social security for migrant workers;Free movement of workers
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Belgium

Summary of the Judgment 
Freedom of movement for persons — Workers — Equal treatment — Reduction of the 
amount of pension awarded to a migrant worker by the amount awarded to his spouse 
under the scheme of another Member State — Spouse's pension not involving any increase 
in the couple's total income — Not permissible 
(EC Treaty, Art. 48 (now, after amendment, Art. 39 EC)) 
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SUMMARY — CASE C-262/97 
The exercise of the right to free movement 
within the Community is impeded if a 
worker's social advantage is lost or reduced 
simply because a benefit of the same kind 
awarded to a worker's spouse under the 
legislation of another Member State is 
taken into account when, on the one hand, 
the grant of that latter benefit has not led to 
any increase in the couple's total income 
and, on the other, there has been a con­
comitant reduction of the same amount in 
the personal pension received by the 
worker under the legislation of that same 
State. Such a result might well discourage 
Community workers from exercising their 
right to free movement and would therefore 
constitute a barrier to that freedom 
enshrined in Article 48 of the Treaty 
(now, after amendment, Article 39 EC). 
In those circumtances, where the compe­
tent authorities of a Member State apply a 
provision of law 
— which fixes the amount of the retire­
ment pension awarded to a married 
worker, 
— which provides for that pension to be 
reduced, by the amount of a pension 
awarded to his spouse under the 
scheme of another Member State, but 
— which provides for the application of a 
derogating clause in respect of over­
lapping where the pension paid else­
where is less than a certain amount, 
it is contrary to Article 48 of the EC Treaty 
for those authorities to reduce the amount 
of the pension awarded to a migrant 
worker by the amount of a pension awar­
ded to his spouse under the scheme of 
another Member State, when the grant of 
that latter pension does not involve any 
increase in the couple's total income. 
(see paras 41-42, 45 and operative part) 
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