Case C-62/11
Land Hessen
v
Florence Feyerbacher
(Reference for a preliminary ruling
from the Hessisches Landessozialgericht)
(Protocol on the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the ECB— Article 36— Protocol on the Privileges and Immunities of the European Communities— Articles13, 15 and23— ECB Headquarters Agreement— Article15— Applicability to ECB staff of the provisions of German social welfare law providing for a parental allowance)
Summary of the Judgment
1.Preliminary rulings— Jurisdiction of the Court— Acts adopted by the institutions— Interpretation of the Agreement on the Headquarters of the European Central Bank— Included
(Art. 267 TFEU; Protocol on the Privileges and Immunities of the European Communities, Arts13, 15 and23; Protocol on the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank, Art.36; Agreement on the Headquarters of the European Central Bank, Art.15)
2.Privileges and immunities of the European Union— Staff of the European Central Bank— Staff not subject to German labour and social welfare law— Grant of national parental allowance— Mere option for the German State— No adverse effect on the operational autonomy of the Bank
(Protocol on the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank, Art.36; Agreement on the Headquarters of the European Central Bank, Art.15)
1.The fact that the European Union is not a party to the Agreement of 18September 1998 between the German Government and the European Central Bank on the Headquarters of that institution does not render inadmissible a reference for a preliminary ruling on the interpretation of the agreement, and in particular on Article 15 thereof.
It follows from the fifth paragraph of the preamble to that agreement that that agreement was concluded in order to define the privileges and immunities of the Bank in Germany as laid down in the Protocol on the Privileges and Immunities of the European Communities. In that context, Article15 of the agreement, which provides that the members of the Executive Board and employees of the Bank are not subject to either the substantive or the procedural labour and social welfare law of the Federal Republic of Germany, merely implements principles established by the protocol, inter alia in Articles13, 15 and 23 thereof, and by the Protocol on the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank, in particular in Article36.
(see paras 33, 34)
2.Article15 of the Agreement of 18September 1998 between the German Government and the European Central Bank on the Headquarters of that institution, read in conjunction with Article 36 of the Protocol on the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank, does not preclude the Federal Republic of Germany, as the State in which the headquarters are situated, from being able to grant the parental allowance provided for by German law to members of staff of the Bank.
While it is indeed true that Article15 of the agreement precludes the State in which the headquarters are situated from imposing on members of staff of the Bank substantive or procedural obligations in order to receive the benefits provided for by the Bank’s conditions of employment, that article does not in any way whatsoever oblige the Federal Republic of Germany, as the State in which the headquarters are situated, to provide for the German parental allowance to be granted to members of staff of the Bank. Likewise, that article does not deprive the Federal Republic of Germany, which does not make entitlement to such an allowance subject to conditions of employment or insurance, of the ability to grant that allowance to members of staff of the Bank who reside in its territory, since the possibility of such a grant arises, in fact, from its legislation and the relevant provisions of European Union law do not exclude that possibility.
Moreover, it is unclear how the independent determination by the Bank of the scheme applicable to its staff could be adversely affected should the Federal Republic of Germany pay the German parental allowance to members of staff of the Bank.
(see paras 45-48, operative part)