Judgment — ECLI:EU:T:1998:232
Date: 1998-09-30
Language of the case: French
Court formation: Fifth Chamber
Based on: Merger Treaty (1965)
Subject matter: Staff regulations and employment conditions - EC
Concepts: Court of Auditors
Procedure: Staff cases - successful

Summary of the J u d g m e n t 
1. Court of Auditors — System of payment for its members — Pensions — Regulation No 
840/95 amending the system — No effect on pensions acquired by the time of its entry into 
force — Meaning of 'pensions acquired' 
(Council Regulations No 2290/77, Art. 9, and No 840/95, Art. 2) 
2. Court of Auditors — System of payment for its members — Pensions — Increase in pension 
rates in the event of an increase in the basic salary — Council's power of decision — Scope — 
Obligation to give reasons for the decision adopted — Extent 
(Council Regulation No 2290/77, Art. 18) 
II - 3885 
SUMMARY — CASE T-121/97 
3. Court of Auditors — System of payment for its members — Pensions — Regulation No 
840/95 amending the system — Difference in the pension calculation according to whether the 
member ceased to hold office before or after the regulation entered into force — Principle of 
equal treatment — Infringement 
(Council Regulations Nos 2290/77 and 840/95) 
1. Under Article 2 of Regulation N o 840/95, 
which amends Regulation N o 2290/77 
relating to the emoluments of the mem­
bers of the Court of Auditors, pensions 
acquired on the date of entry into force 
of Regulation N o 840/95 are not altered 
by it. With regard to the term 'pensions 
acquired', the effect of the wording of 
Regulation N o 2290/77, in particular 
Article 9(1) and (2) thereof, is that entitle­
ment to a pension arises, and the pension 
is therefore acquired, on the day when 
the member of the Court of Auditors 
ceases to hold office, irrespective of the 
day, whether later or concomitant, from 
which he begins to enjoy that entitlement. 
2. Article 18 of Regulation N o 2290/77 
relating to the emoluments of the mem­
bers of the Court of Auditors provides 
that, should the Council decide to 
increase the basic salary, it is at the same 
time to decide on an appropriate increase 
in the rates of existing pensions. It fol­
lows from that wording, first, that the 
Council is obliged merely to examine 
whether such an increase is desirable, and 
is not under a general obligation to make 
an increase. Secondly, when the Council 
considers the desirability of an increase it 
must proceed in a particular direction so 
that, normally, the appropriate increase in 
the rates of acquired pensions will be the 
same as the increase in the basic salary. 
While the Council is not required to 
specify why a decision to increase the 
rates of acquired pensions is appropriate 
when that increase is the same as the 
increase in the basic salary, that is not so 
in the exceptional cases where the 
increase in the rates of acquired pensions 
is much smaller than the increase in the 
basic salary, and even less so in the 
entirely exceptional case where the Coun­
cil considers that it is appropriate not to 
increase the rates of acquired pensions at 
all. 
3. Regulation N o 840/95, which amends 
Regulation N o 2290/77 relating to the 
emoluments of the members of the Court 
of Auditors in order to take account of 
the fact that the latter became a Commu­
nity institution on 1 November 1993, 
infringes the principle of equal treatment 
in that it introduces a difference in the 
pension arrangements for former mem­
bers all of whom ceased to hold office 
after that date, depending on whether 
they ceased to hold office, and therefore 
acquired their pension entitlement, before 
or after the regulation was first applied 
on 1 May 1995. Those members are, in 
the light of the statement of reasons 
referred to above, in a comparable posi­
tion, but are treated differently without 
objective justification. 
II - 3886