Judgment_paragraph 68 · PO and Others v European External Action Service (T-729/16)

68As regards what constitutes an exceptional case within the meaning of the second sentence of Article 15 of Annex X to the Staff Regulations, it is apparent from the travaux préparatoires of that annex that the article seeks to achieve the objective of enabling the children of EU officials to receive free education and to prevent the fact that an official performs his or her duties outside the European Union from entailing discrimination on that point. In that context, it must also be highlighted that those travaux préparatoires are predicated on the principle that not all the forms of free public education available in the country of posting are necessarily suitable for the children of EU officials. They also make it clear that the forms of education available in the third country that are suitable for the children of EU officials may be limited and very expensive and that the option of exceeding the third country statutory ceiling established by the second sentence of Article 15 of Annex X to the Staff Regulations was created to address such a situation. In the light of the foregoing, it must be concluded that the applicants are in a situation for which the option of exceeding the third country statutory ceiling was established in the second sentence of Article 15 of Annex X to the Staff Regulations.