Brussels, 11/12/2001 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday, the European Commission decided that tax measures for banks introduced by an Italian law of December 1998 and the related Legislative Decree of 17 May 1999 are incompatible with the Community State aid rules. The tax advantages in question concern merger and restructuring operations carried out between 1998 and 2004. The Commission considers that the banks taking part in such operations benefited from discriminatory competitive advantages. Italy must now recover the amounts that the banks benefiting from tax exemptions avoided having to pay, that is, some EUR 2.8 billion (maximum theoretical benefits). Nonetheless, it is possible that this figure could be lower, as Italy broke off implementation of the incriminated measures in April 2000. Furthermore, the Commission pointed out that it is pursuing its inquiry into State aid to banking foundations, to be differentiated from banks strictly speaking.