68As follows from well-established case-law, the legal nature of the employment relationship is of no consequence in regard to the application of Article 39 EC (see, in particular, Case 152/73 Sotgiu [1974] ECR 153, paragraph 5; Case 344/87 Bettray [1989] ECR 1621, paragraph 16; and Trojani, paragraph 16). The fact that the worker is employed as a civil servant, or even that the employment relationship is governed by public law rather than by private law, is irrelevant in that respect (see Sotgiu, paragraph 5).
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