administration system, including the areas of healthcare and education. More than that, it follows from the Case materials that if the amount of pensions had not been reduced, even more significant reductions in the other budget positions would have been in order (see Case materials, vol. 10, pp. 1-2 and 130). To be sure, the issue concerning the consequences of the impugned provisions should be determined in view of their proportionality, and this aspect by itself does not take away the legitimate end of the impugned provisions. Therefore, the impugned provisions have a legitimate end – securing the sustainability of the social insurance budget by means of balancing its revenues and expenditures, thus ensuring the welfare of society. 28. The principle of proportionality prescribes that, in the cases when a public authority restricts the rights and lawful interests of persons, a reasonable degree of proportionality between the interests of persons and the interests of the State or society should be attained. To determine whether a legal provision adopted by the legislator satisfies the principle of proportionality, one should clarify 1) whether the means used by the legislator are appropriate for achieving the legitimate end; 2) whether such an action is indispensable, i.e., the end cannot be achieved by other means, less restricting the rights of individual persons; 3) whether the benefit for society will be more significant than the detriment to the rights of individual persons. If, while assessing a legal provision, it can be established that it does not comply with at least one of these criteria, it follows that the legal provision in question does not comply with the principle of proportionality and therefore is unlawful (cf. Paragraph 11 of the Constitutional Court Judgment in the Case No. 2006-42-01 passed on 16 May 2007). The Limburg Principles – developed for the implementation of the Covenant in 1986 – stipulate that measures must be taken without delay and using all the necessary means in order to guarantee the respective rights at least at a minimum level, irrespective of the development level of a country. The said national-level measures include not only legislative but also administrative, judicial, economic, social and 43