Facts: the applicant served in the Yugoslav People's Army and retired from service before the dissolution of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia . He received his pension from the Federal Pension Fund. Once Yugoslavia dissolved, the Croatian Social Security Fund assessed his benefits and reduced his entitlement.
Complaint: the applicant claimed that the decision to decrease his military pension violated his right to property under Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 and a discrimination in violation of Article 14 of the Convention.
Holding: the ECHR ruled that the State did not violate the applicant's right against discrimination.
Reasoning: the right to property does not include the right to a pension of a particular amount. The test for establishing discrimination requires the existence of a difference in treatment that had no objective and reasonable justification. States had a degree of flexibility in determining the degree and extent to which distinctions in similar situations justify a difference in treatment. Governments had the freedom to grant privileges to selected classes of citizens. Granting higher pensions to the Croatian Army officers was within the government's proper discretion.
