19In such circumstances, according to the Court’s settled case-law, the need for a uniform application of European Union law and the principle of equality require the terms of a provision of European Union law which makes no express reference to the law of the Member States for the purpose of determining its meaning and scope normally to be given an independent and uniform interpretation throughout the European Union; that interpretation must take into account the context of the provision and the objective of the relevant legislation (see, in particular, Case 327/82Ekro [1984] ECR 107, paragraph 11; Case C-287/98Linster [2000] ECR I-6917, paragraph 43; and Case-467/08 Padawan [2010] ECR I-10055, paragraph 32).