EU court ruling boosts pension rights of same-sex couples

EU: EUROPE'S HIGHEST court has ruled that gay partners are entitled to survivor's pensions in EU states where homosexual couples have partnership rights similar to marriage, writes Jamie Smyth , European Correspondent.

"A life partner of the same sex may be entitled to a survivor's pension under an occupational pension scheme," the European Court of Justice (ECJ) said yesterday.

"The national court must determine whether a surviving life partner is in a situation comparable to that of a spouse who is entitled to the survivor's pension at issue."

The ruling should have no immediate effect on gay rights in the Republic because civil partnership has not yet been enshrined in domestic law. But it should bolster homosexual rights, particularly gay partners' rights to survivor pensions, if the Government goes ahead with a plan to pass domestic legislation on civil partnerships.

The ECJ ruling follows a German court case taken by Tadao Maruko, who entered into a registered life partnership with a designer of theatrical costumes.

Mr Maruko's partner, who died in 2005, had been a member of a German financial institution which managed pensions for people working in the theatre.

After his partner's death, Mr Maruko applied for a widower's pension but was rejected. He took a case to a German court, which referred it to the ECJ.

The ECJ said EU regulations introduced in 2000 to stop discrimination, including discrimination based on sexual orientation, in employment and occupation were applicable in cases involving survivor's pensions. It also noted that even though Germany reserves marriage solely for people of different sexes, life partnerships had gradually been made equivalent to marriage.

"The court rules that the refusal to grant the survivor's pension to life partners constitutes direct discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation, if surviving spouses and surviving life partners are in a comparable situation as regards that pension," said the court, which left the final decision on whether German law places civil partnership rights on an equivalent level to those of marriage.

The European Commission welcomed the ruling, which it said did not amount to EU meddling in family law. "It's not the commission or any other European institution that imposes on Germany or any other member state whether or not marriage or registered couples must be treated equally," said a commission spokeswoman.

Mr Maruko's lawyer, Helmut Graupner, said the decision meant he would receive his survivor's pension. But lawyers for the pension fund said the decision was not clear cut but left the door open for national pension funds to continue making their own decisions.

© 2008 The Irish Times

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times