Joined Cases C-623/23 and C-626/23, Melbán and Sergamo: Judgment of the Court (Tenth Chamber) of 15 May 2025 (requests for a preliminary ruling from the Juzgado de lo Social No 3 de Pamplona and the Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Madrid – Spain) – UV (C-623/23), XXX (C-626/23) v Instituto Nacional de la Seguridad Social (INSS) (Reference for a preliminary ruling – Social policy – Directive 79/7/EEC – Equal treatment for men and women in matters of social security – Article 4(1) and (2) – Article 7(1) – National legislation providing for a pension supplement awarded to women who are in receipt of contributory retirement pensions and have had one or more biological or adopted children – Possibility of awarding such a supplement to men subject to additional requirements – Direct discrimination on grounds of sex – Article 23 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union – Positive action measures)
Date: 2025-05-15
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: adopted child, adoption of a child, child, equal treatment, gender equality, pension scheme, sexual discrimination, social security legislation








C_202503485EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2025/3485


7.7.2025






Judgment of the Court (Tenth Chamber) of 15 May 2025 (requests for a preliminary ruling from the Juzgado de lo Social No 3 de Pamplona and the Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Madrid – Spain) – UV (C-623/23), XXX (C-626/23) v Instituto Nacional de la Seguridad Social (INSS)


(Joined Cases C-623/23
                (1)
and C-626/23,
                (2)
Melbán and Sergamo)
                (3)

(Reference for a preliminary ruling - Social policy - Directive 79/7/EEC - Equal treatment for men and women in matters of social security - Article 4(1) and (2) - Article 7(1) - National legislation providing for a pension supplement awarded to women who are in receipt of contributory retirement pensions and have had one or more biological or adopted children - Possibility of awarding such a supplement to men subject to additional requirements - Direct discrimination on grounds of sex - Article 23 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union - Positive action measures)
(C/2025/3485)
Language of the case: Spanish

Referring court

Juzgado de lo Social No 3 de Pamplona and Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Madrid

Parties to the main proceedings


Applicant: UV (C-623/23)

Appellant: XXX (C-626/23)

Defendant/Respondent: Instituto Nacional de la Seguridad Social (INSS)

Intervening parties: OP (C-623/23), Ministerio Fiscal (C-623/23)

Operative part of the judgment







1.


Council Directive 79/7/EEC of 19 December 1978 on the progressive implementation of the principle of equal treatment for men and women in matters of social security, in particular Article 4 and Article 7(1)(b) thereof, read in the light of Article 23 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union,
must be interpreted as precluding national legislation pursuant to which, with a view to reducing the gender gap in connection with social security benefits which is attributable to the bringing-up of children, a pension supplement is awarded to women who are in receipt of a contributory retirement pension and who have had one or more children, whereas the award of that supplement to men placed in an identical situation is subject to additional requirements relating to whether their professional career was interrupted or affected by the birth or adoption of their children.










2.


Directive 79/7
must be interpreted as not precluding that, in the event that a request for a pension supplement, made by a father pursuant to national legislation found to constitute direct discrimination on grounds of sex within the meaning of that directive, is rejected, and where the father must, accordingly, be awarded that supplement under the conditions applicable to mothers, such an award gives rise to the withdrawal of the pension supplement already granted to the mother, where, under the terms of that legislation, that supplement may only be awarded to the parent who is in receipt of a pension the amount of which is the lower, and that parent is the father.






(1)  OJ C, C/2024/1834.

(2)  OJ C, C/2024/1835.

(3)  The name of the present case is a fictitious name. It does not correspond to the real name of any party to the proceedings.


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2025/3485/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)