European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker has defended the EU’s finding against Apple as a “landmark ruling” that was made “without discrimination and without bias” in his first public comments on the case.
“Our rules on state aid have always been clear,” he said at the G20 summit in China. “National authorities cannot give tax benefits to some companies and not to others. This is the level playing field that the commission is always working to defend. We apply these rules without discrimination and without bias.”
Mr Juncker, who was prime minister of Luxembourg when a number of tax rulings were struck with multinationals which are now under investigation by the European Commission, said the Apple ruling was the result of “intensive work which has been going on for many years”.
Mr Juncker’s comments come ahead of a series of scheduled meetings between EU officials and members of the Government in the coming week during which Ministers are expected to raise their concerns that the European Commission’s competition arm has overstepped its powers in retroactively tackling Apple.
Tusk visit
On Wednesday, Donald Tusk will pay his first visit to Dublin as European Council president, while Minister for Finance Michael Noonan will face his fellow EU finance ministers in Bratislava on Friday.
Ahead of those exchanges, the Government’s position has been galvanised by a wide-ranging endorsement of its response to the ruling by Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin.
He rowed in with strong support for the Government’s appeal and echoed many of the attacks made by Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Mr Noonan, including their claims the commission was unfairly targeting smaller states and trying to undermine Ireland’s 12.5 per cent corporation tax rate.
Mr Martin said on RTÉ it was "essential" that the State appealed the EU's Apple tax ruling. However, he criticised the Government's "lack of preparation" for the judgment.
“Trojan horse”
He claimed the EU was using the case as a “Trojan horse” to push through a broader tax agenda. “The idea that one small country is singled out by the commission, in many ways as a Trojan horse to drive through perhaps a wider tax agenda that could damage us, is deeply worrying and unfair in my view.
“It is instructive that so far it has only taken cases against the smaller European countries – Luxembourg, Belgium, Ireland and the Dutch,” he added. “I think it’s inconceivable that they would take such a stance against a larger country, and that’s a worry.”
The Dáil will debate the issue all day on Wednesday.
Sinn Féin has tabled an amendment to the Government motion calling on the State to use the €13 billion in taxes expected from Apple on essential services. However, the Government motion is expected to have a comfortable majority, with support coming from Fianna Fáil and Labour.
Unlike some member states, where tens of thousands of tax rulings are made each year, in Ireland the number is relatively low, with the result that the commission is believed to be in possession of most of the tax rulings offered to multinationals.
Nonetheless, Irish officials believe that no further investigation based on the content of these rulings is imminent.
