Judgment_paragraph 8 · Office national des pensions v Emilienne Jonkman and Hélène Vercheval and Noëlle Permesaen v Office national des pensions (C-231/06, C-232/06, C-233/06)

8The problem of careers at Sabena SA and the air hostess pension scheme has been the subject of several disputes before the Belgian courts, some of which have been resolved by a judgment given by the Court after a reference for a preliminary ruling (Case 80/70 Defrenne [1971] ECR 445; Case 43/75 Defrenne [1976] ECR 455, and Case 149/77 Defrenne [1978] ECR 1365). By a Royal Decree of 27 June 1980 amending the Royal Decree of 3 November 1969 determining, in respect of civil aviation air crew, the special rules on eligibility for a pension and the special rules for the application of Royal Decree No 50 of 24 October 1967 concerning retirement and survivors pensions for employed persons {Moniteur belge of 23 August 1980, p. 9700), which came into force on 1 January 1981, the air hostesses were finally integrated into the special scheme for civil aviation air crew. Subsequently, the Belgian legislature, by a Royal Decree of 28 March 1984 with the same title as the preceding decree (Moniteur belge of 3 April 1984, p. 4100), introduced an adjustment for air hostesses in respect of the period from 1 January 1964 to 31 December 1980. That Royal Decree having been annulled by a judgment of the Conseil d'Etat (Council of State) of 7 September 1987, a new Royal Decree, also with the same title, was adopted on 25 June 1997 (Moniteur belge of 31 July 1997, p. 19635, ‘the Royal Decree of 25 June 1997’), in order to remedy the difference in treatment between air hostesses and stewards during the period from 1 January 1964 to 31 December 1980.