Greek Law No 4491/1966 regulates the insurance scheme of the Dimosia Epicheirisi Ilectrismou (the DEI, a State electricity company), which is a State body sui generis, governed for most purposes by private law. Membership of the scheme is compulsory for DEI staff and the retirement pension is calculated on the basis of the recipient's pay during the final year of service and is directly related to length of service. Law No 4491/1966 provides that "in the event of the death of the pensioner or person insured ... the widow, or, where the person insured was a woman, the widower Ä if he is without means and totally unfit for work and was maintained by the deceased throughout the five years preceding her death Ä is entitled to a pension".
Mr Evrenopoulos, a Greek national, was married to an employee of the DEI. On his wife's death, he applied for a survivor's pension. His application was rejected on the ground that he did not meet the requirements laid down by the Law. Mr
Evrenopoulos thereupon contested the Insurance Board's decision before the administrative court, which declared that the material provision of the Law could not be applied since it contravened the prohibition, embodied in the Greek Constitution and in Community Law, of all sex discrimination, and annulled the Insurance Board's decision. The DEI appealed and the Administrative Appeal Court, Athens, referred various questions to the Court of Justice for a preliminary ruling.
The Court considers, first of all, that the DEI insurance scheme falls within the scope of Article 119 of the EC Treaty Ä concerning the principle that men and women should receive equal pay for equal work Ä (and not of Directive 79/7/EEC which permits Member States to maintain differential treatment in the case of survivors' pensions payable under statutory schemes). Benefits granted under the DEI scheme fall within the definition of pay. The pension to which Mrs Evrenopoulou was entitled is payable by reason of the employment relationship; furthermore, it concerns a particular category of workers, is directly related to length of service and its amount is calculated by reference to the last salary. The survivor's pension for Mr Evrenopoulos, provided for by an occupational pension scheme, is an advantage deriving from the survivor's spouse's membership of that scheme: it is therefore linked to pay and falls within the scope of Article 119 of the EC Treaty.
Secondly, the Court declares Ä in accordance with established case-law Ä that Article 119 prohibits any discrimination in matters of pay as between men and women, whatever the system which gives rise to such inequality. Consequently, where a survivor's pension falls within the definition of pay, a provision which makes the award of such a pension to a widower subject to special conditions which are not applied to widows discriminates directly against men and cannot be maintained in force.
Lastly, Article 119 of the EC Treaty requires that, pending the adoption of measures restoring equal treatment, persons in the disadvantaged category must be granted the same advantages as those enjoyed by the persons in the favoured class. Consequently, a widower who has been discriminated against (such as, in the present case, Mr Evrenopoulos) must be awarded a survivor's pension under the same conditions as those applicable for widows.
In accordance with the Court's ruling in Barber, incorporated in Protocol No 2 of the Treaty on European Union, the direct effect of Article 119 of the EC Treaty cannot be relied upon in support of actions to establish entitlement to benefits paid by occupational schemes in so far as such benefits are attributable to periods of employment prior to 17 May 1990 (the date of the judgment in Barber), except in the case of persons who have before that date initiated legal proceedings or introduced an equivalent claim under the applicable national law. The Court states that that exception covers cases such as that of Mr Evrenopoulos, whose first action initiated before 17 May 1990 was declared inadmissible for a procedural defect, which he was permitted by the court to rectify, however, within three months.
This press release is an unofficial document solely for the use of the press. For further information or for a copy of the judgment please contact Tom Kennedy, Tel. (352) 4303-3355 or Ursula Smyth, Tel. (352) 4303-3366, or send a fax to 4303-2500.