Facts
[B.], born in 1939 in the Netherlands, has been living in Switzerland since October 1961 and has held Swiss citizenship in addition to Dutch citizenship since 2001. The Compensation Fund of the Canton of St. Gallen granted him a reduced ordinary partial old-age pension of CHF 1,291 per month, calculated on the pension scale 42 and drawn two years early, as of August 1, 2002. [B.] filed a complaint requesting the granting of a full pension. He argued that the two contribution-liable years of early pension withdrawal (2002 and 2003) should be considered as contribution periods. Furthermore, he claimed that he must not be discriminated against in the determination of his old-age pension after the entry into force of the Agreement on the Free Movement of Persons (AFMP) with the European Community on June 1, 2002.Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court dismissed the complaint. It stated that under the AFMP and the associated Coordination Regulations (Regulation No. 1408/71 and Regulation No. 574/72), the insurance periods completed in the Netherlands are not to be taken into account in the calculation of the Swiss old-age pension. Switzerland was able to maintain the autonomous pension calculation, as it does not violate the EU principle that the amount calculated according to national regulations must not be less than the amount resulting from the aggregation of insurance periods and the pro-rata method.
Even if the complainant had completed insurance periods in the Netherlands until his move to Switzerland at the age of 23, these would…