60In that regard, it is important to remember that Article 92(1) of the Treaty provides that any aid granted by a Member State, or through State resources in any form whatsoever, which distorts or threatens to distort competition by favouring certain undertakings or the production of certain goods is incompatible with the common market. In particular, measures which, in various forms, mitigate the burdens which are normally included in the budget of an undertaking and which, without therefore being subsidies in the strict meaning of the word, are similar in character and have the same effect are considered to constitute aid (see, in particular, Case C-387/92Banco Exterior de España [1994] ECR I-877, paragraph 13; Case C-75/97Belgium v Commission [1999] ECR I-3671, paragraph 23 and Case C-156/98Germany v Commission [2000] ECR I-6857, paragraph 25).