Judgment of the Court 11 June 1991

In Case C-251/89, REFERENCE to the Court under Article 177 of the EEC Treaty by the Sozialgericht Nürnberg (Social Court Nuremberg) (Federal Republic of Germany), for a preliminary ruling in the proceedings pending before that court between

THE COURT, composed of: O. Due, President, T. F. OüHiggins, J. C. Moitinho de Almeida, and M. Díez de Velasco (Presidents of Chambers), C. N. Kakouris, F. A. Schockweiler, F. Grévisse, M. Zuleeg and P. J. G. Kapteyn, Judges, Advocate General: W. Van Gerven, Registrar: H. A. Rühi, Principal Administrator,

after considering the written submissions submitted on behalf of: N. Athanasopoulos and S. Defingou, by H. Runft, Legal Assessor at the advisory centre for returning Greek nationals, Athens, R. Falcone, represented by L. Fazi, Welfare Secretary of the Patronato ACLI, Augsburg, R. Giganti and A. Palermo, represented by J. Ståhlberg, Rechtsanwalt, Munich, M. Lorenzo-Bozosa, by J. Prieto Peláez, Head of the Welfare Department of the Spanish Consulate General, Munich, the German Government, by E. Roder and J. Karl, acting as Agents, the Italian Government, by P. G. Ferri, Avvocato dello Stato, acting as Agent, the Commission of the European Communities, by K. Banks a member of its Legal Service, acting as Agent, assisted by B. Schulte, of the Max-Planck Institut für ausländisches und internationales Sozialrecht (Institute for Foreign and International Social Security Law), Munich,

having regard to the Report for the Hearing,

after hearing the oral observations of N. Athanasopoulos, S. Defingou, R. Falcone, R. Giganti, A. Palermo, M. Lorenzo-Bozosa, F. Torres Dona, represented by L. Enriquez Paradella, a member of the Spanish Embassy in Bonn, the German Government, the Italian Government and the Commission, at the hearing on 5 December 1990.

after hearing the Opinion of the Advocate General at the sitting on 24 January 1991,

gives the following

Judgment

The first question

The second question

The third question

The fourth question

Costs

1 language of the tase: German