In Erste Bank et al. v. Commission of the European Communities, Europe’s highest court has rejected an appeal from four Austrian banks that sought a reduction of €160 million ($155 million) in fines that were imposed on them by European regulators over antitrust violations. The fines stemmed from an Austrian political party’s complaint lodged against the banks with the EC, alleging that the institutions violated EU’s Article 81by coordinating their interests and various fees and charges through a network of banking activities, after this previous long-standing tradition was repealed in 1994. The decision of the highest court went against a March advisory opinion written by one of the court’s advocate generals, which suggested that the EC, which first levied the fines, reduce the total fines by more than half because it improperly assessed the banks’ market shares.