Judgment_paragraph 32 · Ursula Elsen v Bundesversicherungsanstalt für Angestellte (C-135/99)

32The Spanish Government, on the other hand, submits that the principle of territoriality, which forms the basis of the German legislation at issue in the main proceedings, is contrary to the purpose of Community social security law. It refers to the principle of equal treatment of situations laid down in the case-law of the Court, the essential aim of which is to ensure that situations occurring in one Member State are treated in the same way as if they had occurred in another Member State whose legislation is applicable to the actual case, so that a Community worker is not deterred from exercising his right to free movement, which would impede that freedom (see, in that regard, Case 1/78 Kenny v Insurance Officer [1978] ECR 1489 and Case C-131/96 Mora Romero v Landesversichenmgsanstalt Rheinprovinz [1997] ECR I-3659). By virtue of that principle the German authorities are under an obligation, for the purposes of the application of the old-age insurance scheme, to take into account periods of childrearing completed in another Member State as though they had been completed in Germany.

Ursula Elsen v Bundesversicherungsanstalt für Angestellte (C-135/99)

Key facts

Connections

History · 1 version