Moreover, as stated, in essence, by the Advocate General in points 48 to 53 of her Opinion, in order to ensure the full effectiveness of the minimum protection afforded to employees in the event of their employer’s insolvency by Article 8 of Directive 2008/94, which requires that that protection lasts for the entire pension period, the compensation corresponding to at least 50% of the value of their accrued entitlement must be calculated taking into account the envisaged growth in the pension entitlement throughout that period, in order to prevent, as a result of the passage of time, the amount guaranteed falling below 50% of the initial value accrued for one pension year.

The purpose of that directive, which is to provide each employee with a minimum level of Community protection in the event of their employer’s insolvency, would be seriously undermined if, in the absence of any abuse of rights by the employee within the meaning of Article 12 of that directive, the Member States could discharge their obligations under Article 8 of the directive without granting each individual worker such minimum protection.

Article 8 of Directive 2008/94/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 October 2008 on the protection of employees in the event of the insolvency of their employer must be interpreted as meaning that every individual employee must receive old-age benefits corresponding to at least 50% of the value of his accrued entitlement under a supplementary occupational pension scheme in the event of his employer’s insolvency.

In circumstances such as those in the main proceedings, Article 8 of Directive 2008/94 has direct effect and may, therefore, be invoked before a national court by an individual employee in order to challenge a decision of a body such as the Board of the Pension Protection Fund.

With regard to the persons entitled to the protection provided for in Article 8 of Directive 2008/94, it is clear from the wording of that article that the directive is intended to protect employees affected by the insolvency of their employer. Accordingly, as regards the identity of the persons entitled to the protection, that article fulfils the requirements of precision and unconditionality to be met in order for a provision of a directive to be directly applicable.

Regarding the content of the protection provided for by Article 8 of Directive 2008/94, it suffices to recall that, in the judgment of 25 January 2007, Robins and Others (C‑278/05, EU:C:2007:56), the Court held that Article 8 requires that an employee should receive, in the event of his employer’s insolvency, at least half of the old-age benefits arising out of the accrued pension rights for which he has paid contributions under a supplementary occupational pension scheme (judgment of 25 April 2013, Hogan and Others, C‑398/11, EU:C:2013:272, paragraph 51).

That interpretation of Article 8 clarifies and defines its meaning and scope, as it must be, or ought to have been, understood and applied from the time of its coming into force (see, to that effect, judgments of 19 April 2016, DI, C‑441/14, EU:C:2016:278, paragraph 40, and of 22 November 2017, Cussens and Others, C‑251/16, EU:C:2017:881, paragraph 41).

Thus, Article 8 of Directive 2008/94 imposes a clear and precise obligation on Member States, intended to confer rights on individuals. It should be added that that obligation is not subject to any particular conditions.

As regards whether the PPF is a body belonging to the State or whether it may be treated as comparable to the State, within the meaning of the case-law mentioned in paragraphs 54 and 55 above, it should be noted that the PPF is required to perform a task in the public interest and has been given, for that purpose, special powers, since it imposes levies on eligible supplementary occupational pension schemes and has the right to issue those schemes with the necessary directions in connection with their winding up. In addition, by approving the valuation of the protected liabilities of a supplementary occupational pension scheme, the Board of the PPF sets the level of protection of each employee as regards his accrued entitlement to old-age benefits, both where the PPF assumes responsibility for the scheme and where the scheme may be wound up outside the PPF.

(see paras 57-60, 66, 70, operative part 2)