Judgment_paragraph 100 · Vereniging tot Behoud van Natuurmonumenten in Nederland and Others v European Commission (C-817/18 P)

100In accordance with settled case-law, in adopting such guidelines and announcing by publishing them that they will apply to the cases to which they relate, the Commission imposes a limit on the exercise of that discretion and cannot, as a general rule, depart from those guidelines, at the risk of being found to be in breach of general principles of law, such as equal treatment or the protection of legitimate expectations (judgments of 8 March 2016, Greece v Commission, C‑431/14 P, EU:C:2016:145, paragraph 69, and of 19 July 2016, Kotnik and Others, C‑526/14, EU:C:2016:570, paragraph 40).