Judgment_paragraph 90 · European Commission v Anthony Braesch and Others (C-284/21 P)

90By adopting guidelines, such as those set out in the Banking Communication, in order to establish the criteria on the basis of which it proposes to assess the compatibility, with the internal market, of aid measures envisaged by the Member States 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 the discretion granted to it in that respect by Article 107(3)(b) TFEU 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 (see, to that effect, judgment of 19 July 2016, Kotnik and Others, C‑526/14, EU:C:2016:570, paragraphs 39 and 40 and the case-law cited).