(CN) - The Greek Civil and Military Pension Code discriminates against men, the European Court of Justice ruled.
The European Commission Treaty prohibits pay discrepancies between men and women, and the Commission cited Greece for establishing different standards for the genders in terms of pension age and the minimum length of service required to qualify for the pension.
The Greek government countered that the differences are designed to make up for the shorter duration of women's working lives. Europe's highest court did not subscribe to this way of thinking.
"It is contrary to the principle of equal treatment," the court ruled, "to impose for the grant of a retirement pension ... age conditions and rules on minimum periods of service required which differ according to sex."
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