case No. 2009-43-01 has been given the name “On the compliance of Article 2,
Paragraph One of the Law on State Pension and State Allowance Disbursement in the
Period from 2009 to 2012 with Articles 1 and 109 of the Constitution of the Republic
of Latvia and on the compliance of Article 3, Paragraph One of the above Law with
Articles 1, 91, 105 and 109 of the Constitution of the Republic of Latvia”.
Whereas on 27 October 2009 a decision to merge cases No. 2009-43-01,
No. 2009-81-01, No. 2009-82-01, No. 2009-83-01, No. 2009-84-01, No. 2009-87-01,
No. 2009-91-01, No. 2009-92-01 and No. 2009-99-01 was adopted. The merged case
No. 2009-43-01 retained its previous name.
2. The Applicants pointed out that several basic legal principles follow from
Article 1 of the Constitution – the principle of protection of legitimate expectations,
the principle of proportionality, the principle of the rule of law, the principle of social
state, the principle of good governance and the principle of social solidarity. The
legislator, adopting the impugned provisions that prescribe 10 percent cut of old-age
pension granted for life for pensioners unemployed and 70 percent cut for pensioners
employed, has violated these principles.
The Applicants claimed that the issue concerning old-age pensions pertain to
the area of social policy, has long term nature and requires stability. Therefore legal
order in this area should be sufficiently stable and unchanging, so that individual
persons could plan their future with confidence based on legal provisions. Assessing
whether the impugned provisions comply with the principle of protection of legitimate
expectations, it is necessary to take into account whether relying on the previous legal
order was lawful, substantiated and reasonable, and whether legal order in its
substance is sufficiently stable and unchanging to confide in it. In addition, the
Applicants noted that it is important to bear in mind whether the legislator, adopting
the impugned provisions, has deviated from the rights originally guaranteed to private
persons.
2.1. The Applicants went on that the procedure prescribed by the Law on State
Pensions adopted on 2 November 1995 was created as an insurance system – person's
pension depends on the contributions made during the period of employment.
Calculation and granting procedure for all kinds of state pensions has been in effect for
a long period of time and is based on certain principles.
3