SAVICKIS AND OTHERS v. LATVIA JUDGMENT above, ibid., and, mutatis mutandis, Makarčeva v. Lithuania (dec.), no. 31838/19, § 68, 28 September 2021). 184. Secondly, in the context of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1, the Court has held that in matters concerning general measures of economic or social strategy the States usually enjoy a wide margin of appreciation under the Convention (see Andrejeva, § 83; Fábián, § 115; Guberina, § 73; and British Gurkha Welfare Society and Others, § 62, all cited above). Because of their direct knowledge of their society and its needs, the national authorities are in principle better placed than the international judge to appreciate what is in the public interest on social or economic grounds, and the Court will generally respect the legislature’s policy choice unless it is “manifestly without reasonable foundation” (see Andrejeva, § 83; Carson and Others, § 61; and Fábián, § 115, all cited above). 185. On the other hand, as the Court has stressed in the context of Article 14 in conjunction with Article 1 of Protocol No. 1, although the margin of appreciation in the context of general measures of economic or social policy is, in principle, wide, such measures must nevertheless be implemented in a manner that does not violate the prohibition of discrimination as set out in the Convention and complies with the requirement of proportionality (see Fábián, cited above, § 115, with further references). Among other areas, this general rule applies in pension matters (see Stec and Others, cited above, § 55, and Jurčić v. Croatia, no. 54711/15, § 64, 4 February 2021). Hence, in that context the Court has usually limited its acceptance to respect the legislature’s policy choice as not “manifestly without reasonable foundation” to circumstances where an alleged difference in treatment resulted from a transitional measure forming part of a scheme carried out in order to correct an inequality (see Stec and Others, §§ 61-66; British Gurkha Welfare Society and Others, § 81; and J.D. and A. v. the United Kingdom, § 88, all cited above). 186. Irrespective of the scope of the State’s margin of appreciation, the final decision as to the observance of the Convention’s requirements rests with the Court (see, among many other authorities, Konstantin Markin v. Russia [GC], no. 30078/06, § 126, ECHR 2012). 187. Lastly, as regards the burden of proof in relation to Article 14 of the Convention, the Court has held that once the applicant has shown a difference in treatment between persons in relevantly similar situations, it is for the Government to show that it was justified (see D.H. and Others v. the Czech Republic [GC], cited above, § 177; Kurić and Others v. Slovenia [GC], no. 26828/06, § 389, ECHR 2012 (extracts); and Guberina, cited above, § 74). 188. In the context of complaints of alleged discrimination in a welfare or pensions system, the Court has held that its main task is to assess the compatibility of the impugned features of the system with Article 14, not the individual facts or circumstances of the particular applicants or of others who 62