80. Recalls that the Court of Auditors has pointed out in its Annual Reports for the last three years that a sufficient legal basis for Parliament's additional pension scheme must be created; recalls that, in addition, according to the Court, clear rules must be established to cover the eventuality of a deficit ; notes however that the view of the Parliament's legal services is that "a sufficient legal basis for the additional pension scheme" already exists under "the regulatory autonomy of the European Parliament laid down in Article 199 of the EC Treaty (formerly Article 142 of the EEC Treaty) which confers on the European Parliament ...[+++] the right to take whatever measures it requires for its internal organisation" and that furthermore "once the Members' Statute comes into force, Article 27 of that Statute will constitute the legal basis for the Pension Fund";

1. Any pension entitlement that a Member has acquired in accordance with national arrangements at the time when this Statute is applied shall be retained in full.

1. In the event of the death of a Member or of a former Member who at the time of his/her death was or would have been entitled in future to a pension pursuant to Article 14 or Article 15, the spouse and dependent children shall be entitled to a survivor's pension.

2. The total amount of the pension shall not exceed the pension to which the Member would have been entitled at the end of the parliamentary term or to which the former Member was or would have been entitled.

‘pre-retirement benefit’ means: all cash benefits, other than an unemployment benefit or an early old-age benefit, provided from a specified age to workers who have reduced, ceased or suspended their remunerative activities until the age at which they qualify for an old-age pension or an early retirement pension, the receipt of which is not conditional upon the person concerned being available to the employment services of the competent State; ‘early old-age benefit’ means a benefit provided before the normal pension entitlement age is reached and which either continues to be provided once the said age is reached or is replaced by anoth ...[+++]er old-age benefit.

all cash benefits, other than an unemployment benefit or an early old-age benefit, provided from a specified age to workers who have reduced, ceased or suspended their remunerative activities until the age at which they qualify for an old-age pension or an early retirement pension, the receipt of which is not conditional upon the person concerned being available to the employment services of the competent State; "early old-age benefit" means a benefit provided before the normal pension entitlement age is reached and which either continues to be provided once the said age is reached or is replaced by another old-age benefit.