Judgment_paragraph 46 · European Commission v FIH Holding A/S and FIH Erhvervsbank A/S (C-579/16 P)

46Furthermore, the private operator principle is one of the factors that the Commission is required to take into account for the purposes of establishing the existence of aid and is not, therefore, an exception that applies only if a Member State so requests, when it has been found that the constituent elements of ‘State aid’, as laid down in Article 107(1) TFEU, exist (judgments of 5 June 2012, Commission v EDF, C‑124/10 P, EU:C:2012:318, paragraph 103; of 3 April 2014, Commission v Netherlands and ING Groep, C‑224/12 P, EU:C:2014:213, paragraph 32; and of 20 September 2017, Frucona Košice v Commission, C‑300/16 P, EU:C:2017:706, paragraph 23).