66Indeed, such a circumstance cannot be regarded as a precise, unconditional and consistent assurance capable of engendering a legitimate expectation on the part of the shareholders and the subordinated creditors that they would not be subject to burden-sharing measures in the future. As the Court has previously held, while the principle of protection of legitimate expectations is one of the fundamental principles of the European Union, economic operators are not justified in having a legitimate expectation that an existing situation which is capable of being altered by the EU institutions in the exercise of their discretion will be maintained, particularly in a field such as State aid in the banking sector, whose subject matter involves constant adjustment to reflect changes in the economic situation (see, by analogy, judgment of 26 June 2012, Poland v Commission, C‑335/09 P, EU:C:2012:385, paragraph 180).
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