Pension Rights and Free Movement of Persons

This book provides answers to crucial questions such as which pension schemes fall under the scope of Regulation 883/2004 on the coordination of social security systems, and which pensions constitute social security benefits to be coordinated. In order to answer these and other questions, the book also draws on supplementary pension schemes and examines the relationship between Regulation 883/2004 and Directive 2014/50 on supplementary pension rights. The provisions of the Regulation are analyzed, along with the interpretation provided by the Court of Justice of the European Union and individual Member States' practices. Specifically, the jurisprudence supports a range of findings which indicate the social features that a given pension system needs to have in order to be regarded as having social goals pertaining to social security.

Further, the book explores the complications arising from the coordination of fundamentally different pension systems (pay-as-you-go and funded) on the basis of the new provisions of the Regulation on funded schemes. Certain techniques in order to protect the mobility of pension rights are suggested. In turn, the book examines the pension loss a moving pensioner might face due to the anti-overlapping rules. The case law regarding overlapping is reviewed in order to reveal the complexities deriving from anti-overlapping rules. Explanatory remarks are provided, and examples are presented so as to show the practical impacts of the current application of anti-overlapping rules on pension rights. Last but not least, it recommends a different interpretative approach to anti-overlapping rules, with the aim of ensuring that pension rights are not downgraded.

The book addresses scholars and practitioners with an interest in pensions, social security and EU law, offering them in-depth but straightforward insights into the technical cross-border aspects of pensions.