Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:1999:377
Date: 1999-07-08
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Social Policy
Procedure: Action for failure to fulfil obligations - successful
Origin: Greece

Summary of the Judgment 
Social policy — Men and women — Equal pay — Equal treatment for men and women in 
matters of social security — Family and marriage allowances taken into account in the 
calculation of pensions — Failure to abolish discriminatory conditions retroactively — 
Failure to fulfil obligations — Whether justified — No justification 
(EC Treaty, Art. 119 (Arts 117 to 120 of the EC Treaty have been replaced by Arts 136 
EC to 143 EC); Council Directives 75/117, Art. 3, and 79/7, Art. 4(1)) 
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SUMMARY — CASE C-187/98 
A Member State which fails to abolish with 
retroactive effect, from the date of entry 
into force in its territory of Article 119 of 
the Treaty (Articles 117 to 120 of the 
Treaty have been replaced by Articles 136 
EC to 143 EC), Article 3 of Directive 
75/117 and Article 4(1) of Directive 79/7, 
regulations which impose conditions on 
married women workers which are not 
imposed on their married male counter­
parts in respect of the grant to employees of 
family or marriage allowances, which are 
taken into account in determining their 
income for the purposes of calculating 
pension rights, fails to fulfil its obligations 
under the above provisions. 
The fact that the discrimination at issue 
arises from collective agreements in the 
negotiation of which the government con­
cerned played no part cannot absolve the 
latter of its obligation to adopt such 
complementary provisions as may be 
required to ensure compliance with the 
requirements of Community rules. In so far 
as those discriminatory conditions continue 
to have an effect on the pay of the workers 
concerned and on the calculation of their 
pensions, that government cannot escape 
the above obligation by relying on the 
direct effectiveness of the relevant provi­
sions of its Constitution. 
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