51According to settled case-law, observance of the rights of the defence is, in all procedures initiated against a person which are liable to culminate in a measure adversely affecting that person, a fundamental principle of EU law which must be guaranteed even in the absence of any rules governing the procedure in question (see judgments of 24 October 1996 in Commission v Lisrestal and Others, C‑32/95 P, ECR, EU:C:1996:402, paragraph 21, and 9 November 2006 in Commission v De Bry, C‑344/05 P, ECR, EU:C:2006:710, paragraph 37 and the case-law cited; see also, to that effect, judgment of 6 December 2007 in Marcuccio v Commission, C‑59/06 P, ECR-SC, EU:C:2007:756, paragraph 46). That principle of observance of the rights of the defence is particularly important where, as in the present case, the decision not to renew the appellant’s contract of service was adopted against a background of poor personal relations, as the Tribunal itself noted in paragraph 70 of the judgment under appeal (see, to that effect, judgment in Marcuccio v Commission, EU:C:2007:756, paragraph 46).
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