Request for a preliminary ruling from the Administrativen sad Varna (Bulgaria) lodged on 7 June 2017 — Virginie Marie Gabriel Guigo v ‘Garantirani vzemania na rabotnitsite i sluzhitelite’ Fund
(Case C-338/17)
Language of the case: Bulgarian
Referring court
Administrativen sad Varna
Parties to the main proceedings
Applicant: Virginie Marie Gabriel Guigo
Defendant: ‘Garantirani vzemania na rabotnitsite i sluzhitelite’ Fund
Questions referred
1. Are Articles 151 and 153 TFEU and Articles 3, 4, 11 and 12 of Directive 2008/94 1 to be interpreted as permitting a national provision such as Article 4(1) of the Zakon za Garantiranite vzemania na rabotnitsite i sluzhitelite pri nesastoyatelnost na rabotodatelia (Law on the guaranteed claims of employees in the event of the employer’s insolvency), under which persons whose employment was terminated prior to the three-month period provided for before registration of the decision initiating insolvency proceedings over the employer’s assets are excluded from the protection of unmet employment-related claims?
2. If the first question is answered affirmatively, is the procedural autonomy of the Member States, in light of the principles of equivalence, effectiveness and proportionality in the context of the social objective underpinning Articles 151 und 153 TFEU and Directive 2008/94, to be construed as permitting a national measure, such as Article 25 of the Zakon za Garantiranite vzemania na rabotnitsite i sluzhitelite pri nesastoyatelnost na rabotodatelia, which provides that, on expiry of a period of two months from the date of registration of the decision initiating insolvency proceedings, the rights to assert and obtain satisfaction of guaranteed claims are extinguished if the domestic law of the Member State contains a provision, such as Article 358 (1)(3) of the Kodeks na truda (Employment Code), under which the period for asserting unmet employment-related claims is three years from the date on which the claim ought to have been met and payments made after expiry of this period are not deemed to have been made without a legal basis?
3. Is Article 20 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union to be interpreted as permitting such a distinction to be made, on the one hand, between employees with unmet claims whose employment was terminated before the three-month period before registration of the decision initiating insolvency proceedings over the employer’s assets and employees whose employment was terminated during the three-month period laid down and, on the other hand, between those employees and employees who, under Article 358 (1)(3) of the Kodeks na truda, are entitled on the termination of their employment to protection of their unmet claims during a period of three years commencing at the time when the claim ought to have been met?
4. Is Article 4, read with Article 3, of Directive 2008/84 and with the principle of proportionality, to be interpreted as permitting a provision, such as Article 25 of the Zakon za Garantiranite vzemania na rabotnitsite i sluzhitelite pri nesastoyatelnost na rabotodatelia, under which the rights to assert and to obtain satisfaction of guaranteed claims are automatically extinguished, without any possibility of an individual assessment of the relevant factors, on expiry of a two-month period from the date of registration of the decision initiating insolvency proceedings?
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1 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 (Codified version) OJ 2008 L 283, p. 36.