SOCIAL CONTRIBUTIONS OF EUROPEAN UNION CIVIL SERVANTS

The single member state social legislation principle is of fundamental importance when it comes to the coordination of social security schemes in the European Union. It has led to an extensive database of cases at the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and numerous research papers have investigated the conditions under which it was applied. On the other hand, the EU employs approximately 40,000 people who are subject to the joint social security scheme of EU institutions, and to whom the regulations on the coordination of social security schemes do not apply. Regulations governing the legal status of EU civil servants have been in place since the onset of European integration processes; however, the specifics of their legal status are relatively little known, even in the founding member states. This became obvious in the recent CJEU judgment in the case of Wenceslas de Lobkowicz. In this case the CJEU looked at the question of the applicability of national regulations which impose an obligation on the tax residents of a particular member state, with compulsory affiliation to the joint social security scheme of EU institutions, to contribute to the funding of the social security scheme of that same member state. This paper describes the rules of coordination of social security schemes in the EU and provides an analysis of the CJEU's argumentation in their judgment in the Lobkowicz case. The paper also provides a comprehensive overview of the regulations governing the legal status of EU civil servants and considers the implications these regulations have on the legal systems of member states. Although the regulation of social policy issues in the EU falls within the competence of each member state, the regulations governing the status of EU civil servants apply directly in member states. This means that any judgment regarding their status requires the knowledge and consideration of this branch of law.