educational measures. The laws that restrict the enactment of any social rights cannot be unjust or discriminatory (see Limburg Principles on the Implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, U.N. Commission on Human Rights, U.N. ESCOR, 43d Sess., U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/1987/17). Even if a country has a substantial deficiency of financial resources, it is obliged to protect the weakest members of the society (see UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment No.3. The nature of States parties obligations, E/1991/23 14 December 1990, para. 12; UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment No. 6. The economic, social and cultural rights of older persons, E/1996/22 8 December 1995, para. 17). In accordance with the Law on State Pensions, the recipients of old-age pensions are deemed as a special social group, because when these people discontinue paid employment, their income and, correspondingly, opportunities to take part in different processes of public life decrease. 29. To determine whether the impugned provisions comply with the principle of proportionality, the Constitutional Court had to ascertain first of all whether the means chosen by the legislator were appropriate for the attainment of the legitimate end. 29.1. The Applicants maintained that the means chosen are not appropriate for the attainment of the legitimate end set forth by the Saeima, for these means affect only the most unprotected group of society – the recipients of old-age pension. Furthermore, those Applicants who dispute Article 3, Paragraph One of the Disbursement Law emphasised that this provision is not appropriate for the attainment of the legitimate end, and the prognosticated fiscal effect has not been achieved as a result of its adoption. The Saeima and the Cabinet of Ministers believe that the chosen means are appropriate for the attainment of the legitimate end. During the difficult economic situation, as the opinion of the Cabinet of Ministers and the replies of the Saeima assert, the State was compelled to turn to international institutions in order to obtain loans for the stabilisation of the economic situation and the financial system of the Republic of Latvia. The condition for receiving the said loans was the reduction of the State budget expenditures for 500 million lats. Consequently, the budget for the year 2009 had to be modified, reducing the expenditures for this sum. Other alternatives for cutting the 44