Vestager says EU is not on ‘witch hunt’ against US firms

European competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager insisted on Tuesday that the EU is not on a "witch hunt" against US companies as it continues state-aid investigations into Amazon and McDonalds.

Last August the commission ruled that Apple received received illegal State aid and owes Ireland €13 billion in tax.

Responding to questions at a press conference in Dublin on whether she is concerned the commission risks hitting overseas investment in Europe in light of its approach to US companies, Ms Vestager said: “No, I’m not.

“Europe is a wonderful place to do business. It’s probably the biggest, richest market in the world with amazing infrastructure,”she said, adding that she was obliged to look into cases where it suspected that companies and member states were not playing by the rule book.

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Ms Vestager said she believed Apple’s €13 billion Irish tax bill still stood “in round figures”, as the Revenue Commissioners continued to work on the amount that must be put into escrow, pending the outcome of appeals against the EU decision.

Rationale

The Government and Apple have each appealed the ruling in the last three months, with the legal process expected to last up to six years.

An original deadline was set for earlier this month for the money to be put into escrow. However, that was missed as Revenue must align the EU’s formula with Irish tax law to calculate how much tax is owed, plus interest. Some estimates put the interest bill at about €1.5 billion.

Ms Vestager faces questioning this afternoon from an Oireachtas finance committee on the Apple case.

“Our committee welcomes the opportunity to engage with Commissioner Vestager to discuss the rationale behind the commission’s August ruling, which may have serious implications for the Irish tax code in terms of future determinations by the Revenue Commissioners,” said John McGuinness, the committee’s chairman.

Ms Vestager’s brief trip to Ireland will also involve a press briefing and courtesy call on Minister for Finance Michael Noonan.