5 THE APPLICANT CLAIMS THAT THE COMMISSION CONTRAVENED THE FOURTH SUBPARAGRAPH OF ARTICLE 5 ( 7 ) OF REGULATION NO 259/68 BY NOT GRANTING HER THE RIGHT TO A FULL PENSION WITH EFFECT FROM HER 55TH YEAR .
SHE ARGUES THAT THIS PROVISION ACCORDS TO EVERY FORMER OFFICIAL WHO HAS BEEN THE SUBJECT OF A MEASURE TERMINATING HIS SERVICE AND WHO HAS BEEN IN RECEIPT OF THE ALLOWANCE PROVIDED FOR IN ARTICLE 5, THE RIGHT TO A FULL PENSION ONCE HE HAS ATTAINED THE AGE OF 55 AND THE PERIOD DURING WHICH HE IS ENTITLED TO THE ALLOWANCE HAS CEASED .
6 THE WORDING OF THE PROVISION IN QUESTION SHOWS CLEARLY THAT THE RIGHT TO A FULL PENSION CAN ONLY VEST IN A FORMER OFFICIAL WHO, UPON THE EXPIRY OF THE PERIOD DURING WHICH HE IS ENTITLED TO THE ALLOWANCE HAS ATTAINED THE AGE OF 55 .
THOSE WHO, LIKE THE APPLICANT WILL NOT YET HAVE ATTAINED THAT AGE AT THE END OF THE PERIOD DURING WHICH THEY ARE ENTITLED TO THE ALLOWANCE, CANNOT BENEFIT FROM THIS PROVISION .
7 THERE ARE MOREOVER, GOOD SOCIAL GROUNDS FOR THE DISPUTED RESTRICTION OF THE RIGHTS TO PENSION .
THE REASON FOR THIS PROVISION IS OBVIOUSLY THE FACT THAT IT IS GENERALLY EXTREMELY DIFFICULT FOR OLDER PERSONS TO FIND EMPLOYMENT EQUIVALENT TO THAT WHICH THEY HAD AT THE TIME WHEN THEIR CAREER WAS INTERRUPTED .
IT IS THEREFORE REASONABLE TO GRANT TO FORMER OFFICIALS WHO, WHEN THEIR ALLOWANCE CEASES, HAVE ALREADY ATTAINED THE AGE OF 55, AND WILL THEREFORE FIND IT DIFFICULT TO OBTAIN OTHER INCOME EQUIVALENT TO THE LAPSED ALLOWANCE, THE RIGHT TO AN EARLY PENSION .
8 CONVERSELY, FORMER OFFICIALS FOR WHOM THE PERIOD DURING WHICH THEY ARE ENTITLED TO AN ALLOWANCE CEASES AT A LESS ADVANCED AGE AND WHO WILL GENERALLY BE YOUNGER AT THE TIME WHEN THEIR SERVICE TERMINATES, MAY BE PRESUMED CAPABLE OF FINDING DURING THE PERIOD IN WHICH THEY ARE ENTITLED TO AN ALLOWANCE A POST AND PROSPECTS SUFFICIENTLY STABLE FOR THEM NOT TO NEED A RIGHT TO AN EARLY PENSION .
9 THUS THE PROVISION IN QUESTION SEEMS TO ACCORD WITH THE SPIRIT AND GENERAL SCHEME OF THE RULES WHICH USUALLY GOVERN THE QUESTION, ALWAYS A DIFFICULT ONE, OF REDUCING STAFF .
THE INTERPRETATION ADOPTED BY THE CONTESTED DECISION IS THEREFORE CORRECT .
10 THE APPLICANT FURTHER CLAIMS THAT THE CONTESTED MEASURE WAS ADOPTED WITHOUT REGARD FOR HER VESTED RIGHTS .
IN THIS CONTEXT SHE MAKES REFERENCE TO THE STATEMENTS OF HER POSSIBLE PECUNIARY RIGHTS, SUPPLIED BY THE COMPETENT DEPARTMENTS OF THE COMMISSION OF THE EEC DURING THE MONTH OF APRIL 1968, WHICH WERE BASED ON AN INTERPRETATION OF THE DISPUTED PROVISION ACCORDING TO WHICH THE RIGHT TO A FULL PENSION ACCRUES TO ALL FORMER OFFICIALS IN RECEIPT OF THE ALLOWANCES, ONCE THEY HAVE REACHED THE AGE OF 55 YEARS AND THE PERIOD OF ENTITLEMENT TO THE ALLOWANCE HAS ENDED .
11 THIS STATEMENT WAS SUPPLIED SOLELY BY WAY OF INFORMATION AND WAS NOT CAPABLE OF