33First, this criterion, based on a subjective examination of the aims of public intervention, is not consistent with the case-law (see, in particular, Case C-480/98 Spain v Commission [2000] ECR I-8717, paragraph 16). The only criterion which the Court of First Instance ought to have used, according to the case-law of the Court of Justice, is that of a comparison of the conduct of the public operator concerned with that of a private investor, taking account of the economic analysis of the public operator's conduct by reference to objective and verifiable elements (see, in particular, Joined Cases C-83/01 P, C-93/01 P and C-94/01 P Chronopost and Others v UFEX and Others [2003] ECR I-6993). Where services are purchased, as in the present case, there is no element of aid if the transaction takes place under normal market price conditions. In that respect the new agreement was comparable with contracts generally concluded between shipping companies and operators.
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