26Finally, it should be noted that although the illegality, under the law on State aid, of a tax exemption does not affect the legality of the tax itself, so that the persons liable to pay that tax cannot plead that it is unlawful in order to avoid payment of that tax (see judgment of 27 October 2005, Distribution Casino France and Others, C‑266/04 to C‑270/04, C‑276/04 and C‑321/04 to C‑325/04, EU:C:2005:657, paragraph 44), the dispute in the main proceedings does not concern an application to be exempted from the contested tax, but the legality of the rules relating to that tax as a matter of EU law. It is therefore by no means obvious that the second and third questions are not of genuine interest for the purpose of ruling on the dispute before the referring court (see, by analogy, judgment of 15 June 2006, Air Liquide Industries Belgium, C‑393/04 and C‑41/05, EU:C:2006:403, paragraph 25).
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