rate, indexation mechanism and the minimum retirement age (see Sub-paragraph 4.14
of Aide Memoire – the World Bank Fund technical assistance mission report of 11-22
June 2007 concerning state expenditure control and state financial management
matters, Case materials, vol. 9, p. 104).
Hence one can say that the social insurance system implemented in Latvia as a result
of the pension reform of 1995 can ensure long-term availability of pension and other
social services in proportion to the amount of person’s participation in this system, or
on the basis of collective insurance principle, whereas inconsiderate or hasty decisions
may considerably endanger the sustainability and well-balanced continuation of the
system.
III
24. Article 109 of the Constitution states: “Everyone has the right to social security in
old age, for work disability, for unemployment and in other cases as provided by law.”
The Constitutional Court, interpreting the above article, acknowledged that, on the one
hand, the enactment of these fundamental rights depends on the resources at the
disposal of the State and society; however, on the other hand, if any rights to social
protection are included in the fundamental law, the State is not entitled to refuse the
enactment of these rights. In this case these rights are not just declaratory, their
protection has constitutional value in Latvia (see, e.g., the Concluding Part of the
Constitutional Court Judgment in the Case No. 2000-08-0109 passed on 13 March
2001).
The Applications dispute the regulation of the Disbursement Law that restricts the
disbursement amount for the pensions specified by the Law on State Pensions as well
as for certain service pensions. The said regulation of the Disbursement Law has not
been adopted as a result of a comprehensive social insurance system reform, and it is
prescribed for a specific period of time – from 1 July 2009 to 31 December
2012. Besides, Article 9 of the Disbursement Law obligates the Cabinet of Ministers to
reconsider the validity of disbursement restrictions stipulated by this law twice a year
and, correspondingly, submit the Saeima either a report concerning the continuation of
36
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