Judgment_paragraph 32 · Magdalena Fernández v European Commission (T-90/92)

32As to the second part of the plea, alleging that payment of the expatriation allowance should be viewed as an established right to be maintained in the case of an official who met the conditions for its payment at one point in his career with the Communities, that interpretation is not supported by the wording of Article 4(1 )(a) of Annex VII to the Staff Regulations. It has consistently been held that the purpose of the expatriation allowance is to compensate an official for the extra expense and inconvenience of working permanently in a country with which he had not established lasting links before taking-up his post {Nunez v Commission, paragraph 9; Costacurta Gelabert v Commission, paragraph 42; Case T-4/92 Vardakas v Commission [1993] ECR II-357, paragraph 39). Accordingly, that provision must be interpreted to mean that the expatriation allowance is paid to an official in consideration of the fact that he is posted to a State with which he has not established lasting links before taking-up his post and the concept of taking up a post must be understood to mean the initial taking-up of a post with the Communities. However, where an official is posted to a State with which he has established lasting links before taking up his post, more specifically to a State where, under the terms of Article 4(1 )(a), he habitually resided or carried on his occupation during the reference period, he loses the right to the expatriation allowance. The right to the expatriation allowance thus depends on the particular connection which an official has with each of his places of employment.

Magdalena Fernández v European Commission (T-90/92)

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