Keywords
Summary

Keywords

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1 . Social security for migrant workers - Community legislation - Matters covered - Supplementary allowance paid to pensioners by a national solidarity fund - Inclusion

( Regulation No 1408/71 of the Council, Art . 4(1 ) )

2 . Social security for migrant workers - Benefits - Residence clauses - Removal - Acquisition or maintenance of the right to benefits refused on account of residence in another Member State - Not permissible

( Regulation No 1408/71 of the Council, Art . 10(1 ) )

3 . Social security for migrant workers - Community legislation - Implementation compulsory notwithstanding practical difficulties - Possibility of referral to the Administrative Commission on Social Security for Migrant Workers

( Regulation No 1408/71 of the Council, Art . 81(d ) )

4 . Member States - Obligations - Not fulfilled - Proposal designed to terminate an infringement submitted to the Council - No effect

Summary

1 . The social security rules within the meaning of Regulation No 1408/71 cover a supplementary allowance paid by a national solidarity fund, financed out of tax revenue and granted to recipients of old-age, survivors' or invalidity pensions in order to provide them with the minimum means of subsistence, provided that the persons concerned have a legally protected right to the grant of such an allowance .

The fact that payment of such an allowance is linked to a specified economic and social environment cannot, under Community law as it now stands, constitute a ground for distinguishing it from the pension to which it is an automatic supplement .

2 . Article 10 of Regulation No 1408/71 must be interpreted as meaning that a person may not be precluded from acquiring or retaining entitlement to the benefits, pensions and allowances referred to in that provision on the sole ground that he does not reside within the territory of the Member State in which the institution responsible for payment is situated .

3 . The fact that the application of certain provisions of the Community legislation on social security may give rise to practical difficulties where the arrangements for the payment of certain categories of benefits have not been laid down cannot prejudice the rights which individuals derive from the principles of the social legislation of the Community . Furthermore the Administrative Commission on Social Security for Migrant Workers was specifically set up by Article 81(d ) of Regulation No 1408/71 to deal with any difficulties of that kind .

4 . The fact that a proposal is submitted to the Council whose adoption could terminate an infringement with which a Member State is charged cannot relieve that State of its obligation to comply with the provisions of Community law in force .