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Pensioner: Parental leave applies everywhere in the EU
Photo: IMAGO/Dirk Sattler
Child-rearing periods in other EU countries must be taken into account when calculating the pension.
Otherwise, those concerned could be disadvantaged because they would have exercised their right to freedom of movement, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled in Luxembourg on Thursday.
It was about a pensioner from Austria.
(Az. C-576/20)
She had first worked in Austria and then moved to Belgium and later to Hungary, where she raised her children and was not employed.
She later returned to Austria, worked there again after a year and made contributions to the pension insurance scheme.
The Pensionsversicherungsanstalt recognized child-rearing periods in Austria, but not in Belgium and Hungary.
On the other hand, the woman complained in Austria.
The Supreme Court asked the ECJ to interpret EU law.
This now made it clear that the Austrian regulations for old-age pensions would have to be applied both to the child-rearing period and to the period of employment.
If the woman had not left Austria, her child-raising periods would also have been taken into account, he explained.
mike/AFP
