Court of Justice to review Czech-Slovak pensions case

The European Court of Justice in Luxemburg will be reviewing a case involving pensions paid by the Slovak state to Czechs who worked there when the two countries were united. The court, the highest in the European Union, has been asked to hear the case by the Supreme Administrative Court in Prague, which suspended proceedings on the matter due to legal ambiguities. The outcome of the suit against the Czech Social Security Administration would affect thousands of Czechs who worked in Slovakia or for Slovakia-based offices and now receive pensions for work abroad. The Czech Constitutional Court has already ruled that such work carried out in the former Czechoslovakia cannot be considered “work abroad”. The pensions currently received by such workers are several thousands of crowns per month less than they would receive under the Czech pensions system.