111However, no such doubts emerge from the answer of 5 February 2007. In accordance with that answer, both the initiation of a formal investigation procedure in respect of the scheme at issue, which could have brought to light serious doubts as to the lawfulness of that scheme, and, a fortiori, the outcome of such a procedure, are hypothetical. It is true that the Commission refers, in essence, in the reply, to the request for information sent to the Spanish authorities on 15 January 2007 (see paragraph 4 above), but such a request in the present case concerns only the preliminary stage of the procedure for reviewing State aid, which is intended merely to allow the Commission to form a prima facie opinion on the national measure concerned (see judgment of 10 July 2012, Smurfit Kappa Group v Commission, T‑304/08, EU:T:2012:351, paragraph 45 and the case-law cited) and does not necessarily lead to the initiation of the formal investigation procedure, since the Commission may not go beyond the preliminary stage for the purpose of taking a decision favourable to a national measure if it is in a position to satisfy itself, on an initial examination, either that the measure does not constitute aid or, if it is to be classified as aid, that it is compatible with the Treaty FEU (judgments of 22 December 2008, British Aggregates v Commission, C‑487/06 P, EU:C:2008:757, paragraphs 186 and 187, and of 16 September 2013, Colt Télécommunications France v Commission, T‑79/10, not published, EU:T:2013:463, paragraph 31). It should also be noted that the Commission does not, in that reply, conduct any assessment, even of a summary or general nature, of the scheme at issue; it merely recalls the powers it has in respect of aid that is unlawful and incompatible with the internal market.