Judgment_paragraph 32 · Tomasz Ziolkowski and Barbara Szeja and Others v Land Berlin (C-424/10, C-425/10)

32It must be noted, first, that, according to settled case-law, the need for a uniform application of European Union law and the principle of equality require that 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 must normally be given an independent and uniform interpretation throughout the European Union (Case C-287/98 Linster [2000] ECR I-6917, paragraph 43, and Case C-34/10 Brüstle [2011] ECR I-9821, paragraph 25).