pension disbursement amount is justified if it is carried out in fair balance with
persons’ legitimate expectations concerning a specific pension disbursement amount.
The ECtHR has also repeatedly drawn attention to the need of ensuring fair balance
and commensurate compensation (see Harris D., O’Boyle M., Warbrick C., Law of the
European Convention on Human Rights, 2nd ed., Oxford University Press, 2009, p.
675).
In the context of this Case, it means that the reduction of pensions could have
been implemented only if a legal provision concerning later reimbursement of the
deducted money had been simultaneously adopted. In other words, planning such a
temporary reduction, the legislator is obliged to ensure its fair reimbursement at a later
time. More than that, the State, in proportion to the overall interests of society, had to
define the groups of pensioners who would be exempt from this reduction, or to whom
a different reduction amount would be applied.
The impugned reduction of pensions does not allow a differentiated
approach and does not provide either for a later compensation for the deductions,
or for an adequate transitional period. Therefore, the impugned provisions do not
comply with Article 1 of the Constitution.
IV
33. Consistent with the practice of the Constitutional Court, if an impugned legal
provision is adjudicated as unconformable with one constitutional norm, the Court
does not further adjudicate the conformity of the provision in question with other
constitutional norms. The provisions impugned in this Case also affect several other
fundamental rights established by the Constitution, first of all the fundamental rights
established by Articles 91 and 105 of the Constitution. Thus, the legislator had, to
equal extent, to take into account both the duty arising from the first sentence of
Article 91 of the Constitution – to treat persons in different positions differently – and
the duty to protect the rights to pension disbursement granted by Article 105 of the
Constitution (cf. Paragraph 6 of the Establishing Part of the Constitutional Court
Judgment in the Case No. 2001-12-01 passed on 19 March 2002 and Paragraphs 20
67
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents