41As regards the very existence of discrimination, it is apparent from the Court’s case-law that a Member State’s rules which restrict benefits in terms of conditions of pay or working conditions to married employees, whereas marriage is legally possible in that Member State only between persons of different sexes, give rise to direct discrimination based on sexual orientation against homosexual permanent employees in a PACS arrangement who are in a comparable situation (see, to that effect, Maruko, paragraph 73, and Römer, paragraph 52).
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