*Update 06.11.2025 here is the link to retirement info on staff matters. [1]*
Original article: Are you (relatively) new in the institutions? Have you worked somewhere else before and acquired pension rights in another pension scheme? Then you have surely heard about the possibilities to transfer your pension rights from your previous scheme into the EU pension scheme, a so called “transfer-in [2]”. In an older article [3], we already informed you about the conversion coefficients that play a crucial role in determining how many years the money from your previous pension scheme “buys” you in the EU scheme. In this older article, we also wrote:
‘Nonetheless, we urge you to consider all the consequences a transfer-in [4] will have. You can (and should!) use the pension calculator [5] that the Paymasters’ Office (PMO) makes available to check the possible influence of your decision on your future pension.’
Why this warning? It is possible that you transfer your money into the EU scheme, but that this transfer does not make any difference for your final pension! For example, when your time in the EU and the time bought with your transfer would result in a pension of more than 70% of your last basic salary. With the low accrual rate under the 2014 staff regulations, this is however a theoretical problem for most colleagues. Far more likely is the case of colleagues who earn so little that they will only earn the minimum pension [6].
‘When they retire, AST/SC colleagues will always get the minimum pension because that minimum will always be significantly higher than the basic retirement pension. The reason for this is that last basic salary of AST/SC, grade 6, is simply too low to cross the threshold.’ Stop the AST/SC exploitation NOW [7] 14.06.2021
In both cases, the transferred-in [4] money is lost: either partially or completely, depending on the situation. There is no way for you to revert the transfer-in. Until recently, there was at least some hope that the Court of Justice would intervene at some point. This hope was fuelled by the judgement in the case T‑702/16 P [8] from 2018: in this case, colleagues had realized only years after a transfer-in that the transfer-in would be meaningless for them, because they would in all likelihood receive only the minimum pension. While this case was lost, the Court left the door open for another, later lawsuit: should the colleagues indeed arrive at a pension amount where no account would be taken of the years transferred-in (because the colleagues would receive only the minimum pension), they could come again to the Court.
Well, some colleagues did just this; unfortunately for many colleagues in the lower salary grades, they lost their case C‑100/22 P [9] recently. In this new case, the Court decided that the rule for the minimum pension is only an alternative and subsidiary rule. In other words: the minimum pension is a social security net and if you fall into it even with a transfer-in, then the institutions are not obliged to pay you the minimum pension AND the amount that would result from the transfer-in.
Needless to say, Generation 2004 is more than unhappy about this judgement. It is yet another case where the Institutions throw the lowest salaries under the bus – in this particular case, even after having taken the money for the bus ticket (the transfer-in).
Feel free to contact us [10] if you have questions about a possible transfer-in. In the meantime, please read the warning from above again and remember that the Institution will do essentially nothing to help you find your way through the maze of rules and Court judgements that determine your financial rights.
If you appreciate our work, please consider becoming a member of Generation 2004 [11].
As always, feel free to contact [10] us if you have questions: we’re here for you
Older updates
*Update 16.05.2025: internal competitions [12] promise to allow function group changes, meaning that a pension transfer-in [13] for AST/SC staff and CAs may well be useful in the future.*
*Update 16.11.2023 Spain is obliged to pay the state pension contributions for paternity leave [14]* *Update 09.08.2023 check out the unsuccessful attempt by colleagues to have a refund of the amount of pension rights not taken into account (04/05/2023 – KY v Cour de justice de l’UE [15]Case C-100/22 P).*