65In the first place, as regards the FIH Group’s argument alleging that there are similarities between the factual and legal circumstances of the present case and those giving rise to the judgment of 3 April 2014, Commission v Netherlands and ING Groep (C‑224/12 P, EU:C:2014:213), it should be noted that the ground of appeal, to which the paragraphs of that judgment cited by FIH Group referred, concerned whether the private operator principle, which the Commission had disregarded, was applicable and not, as in the present case, its application to the measures concerned. In particular, the Court held, in essence, in paragraphs 34 and 37 of that judgment, that the applicability of that test to a State measure cannot, in principle, be excluded from the outset merely because of the links that may exist between the disputed State intervention and the exercise of public authority in the form of the earlier grant of State aid.
Source: EUR-Lex, © European Union, 1998-2026. Reuse authorised under Decision 2011/833/EU.