Opinion of Mr Advocate General Van Gerven delivered on 24 January 1991

1 Original language: Dutch.

2 Articles 77 and 78 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71 on the application of social security schemes to employed persons, to self-employed persons and to members of their families moving within the Community, in the version contained in Annex I to Council Regulation (EEC) No 2001/83 of 2 June 1983 (OJ 1983 L 230, p. 6).

3 Judgment in Case 733/79 Caisse de Compensation des Allocations Familiales v Cosmo Laterza [1980] ECR 1915

4 Judgment in Case 242/83 Caisse de Compensation des Allocations Familiales v Salvatore Palteri [1984] ECR 3171.

5 Judgment in Case 1/88 Adulino Baldi v Caisse de Compensation des Allocations Familiales [1989] ECR 667.

6 Judgment in Case 807/79 Giacomo Gravina and Others v Landesversicherungsanstalt Schwaben [1980] ECR 2205.

7 Judgment of 24 November 1983 in Case 320/82 Benito D'Amano v Landesversicberungianstalt Schwaben [1983] ECR3811.

8 Judgment of 14 December 1988 in Case 269/87 Natalino Ventura v Landesversicberungianstalt Schwaben [1988] ECR 6411, paragraph 14.

9 See Paragraph 1, subparagraph 1(1) and 2(i), and Paragraph 2, subparagraph 5, of the Bundeskindergeldgesetz.

10 Judgment in Case 100/78 Claudino Rossi v Caisse de Compensation des Allocations Familiales [1979] ECR 831

11 Sec paragraph 10 of the Bundeskindergeldgesetz.

12 Paragraph 1, point 22, oí the Haushaltsbegleitsgesetz 1984 of 22 December 1983 (Bundesgesetzblatt I, p. 1532).

13 Point IV.I (b) of the Declaration published in Official Journal 1980 C 139, p. 1. This Declaration, as amended by the Declaration published in Official Journal 1983 C 351, p. 1, reads as follows:(b) Children's allowances (in the German version: Kindergeld): Law concerning Children's Allowances (Bundeskindergeldgesetz) of 14 April 1964, with amendments and supplements, in the applicable version.

14 Judgment in Case 35/77 Elisabeth Beerens v Rijksdienst voor Arbeidsvoorziening [1977] ECR 2249.

15 Under Paragraph 1262 of the Reichsversicherungsordnung, pensioners other than persons who have suffered serious accident at work (to whom the rule in Paragraph 583 of the Reichsversicherungsordnung is applicable) can claim child grant for their children if they were receiving this benefit before 1984- Its status is analogous to that of child supplement (discussed in 8- above). The persons concerned can also claim payment of partial child allowance if the amount of child grant granted is less than the child allowance normally payable.

16 See in this connection, but contra, J. Ståhlberg, Deutsches Kindergeld für EG-Staatsangehörige, Die Soztalgerichtsbarkeit 1989, p. 238, at p. 245.

17 It is not altogether clear to me to what extent this rule is also applicable to child allowance for orphans. Under Paragraph 24 of the Bundeskindergeldgesetz the child allowance for children alone (including orphans) is DM 50 a month and Paragraph 10 of the Bundeskindergeldgesetz is not applicable to that amount. In its question, however, the national court assumes that the amount of the allowance for orphans can also be reduced. Consequently, I shall consider the question in the light of both Article 77 (pensioners) and Article 78 (orphans) of Regulation No 1408/71.

18 Judgment in Case 151/87 Cornelii Bakker v Rijksdienst voor Werknemerspensioenen [1988] ECR 2009.

19 See in particular the judgment in Case 41/84 Pietro Pinna v Caisse d'Allocations Familiales de la Savoie [1986] ECR 1, paragraph 23.

20 OJ 1986 C 141, p. 7.

21 Judgment in Case 98/80 Giuieppe Romano v Inilitut National d'Anurance Maladie-Invalidité [1981] ECR 1241.