A retired Moroccan forces the Spanish Social Security to back down and recovers 15,000 €
The courts have ordered the Spanish Social Security to reimburse more than 15,000 euros to a retired Moroccan. The state agency was demanding the repayment of a pension supplement due to his long stays in Morocco.
The dispute was over this citizen’s right, established in southeastern Spain, to receive a financial supplement while staying for several months in his country of origin. According to the information reported by La Opinión de Murcia, the National Social Security Institute believed that these repeated absences in Morocco, particularly in 2021 and 2022, made the payment of this aid obsolete.
Beneficiary of this benefit since 2014 under a bilateral Spanish-Moroccan agreement, the man was asked to repay the sum of 15,318.80 euros at the beginning of 2024. The institution relied on its own residence rules, claiming that the eligibility condition is only met "when one is absent from the country for no more than 90 days per year".
Faced with the administration, which justified its sanction by the absence of "exceptional cause justifying the long absence from Spain", the case was brought before the courts. The courts ruled twice in favor of the retiree, annulling the INSS decision and demanding the maintenance of the supplement as well as the full reimbursement of the unduly withheld sums.
The judges formally rejected the arguments of the State, specifying that this supplement is legally inseparable from the main pension. The court’s ruling thus clearly establishes that "it is irrelevant how long the plaintiff has spent in his country of origin, as he can do so freely and without any limitation".
