EU commissioner discusses Apple tax case on visit to Washington

EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said Monday that her job was to “ensure that companies can compete on equal terms,” adding that Europe welcomed business but not tax evasion in a reference to the Apple case.

“Enforcing our rules is just like applying the antitrust and merger rules you look at the evidence, and you enforce the law. And the aim is the same as with all competition rules to protect consumers and give all businesses a fair chance, by making sure the market is fair,” Vestager said in a press conference at the European Union’s Delegation in Washington, where she is on an official visit.

Vestager discussed the tax case involving Apple and Ireland, emphasizing that regulators’ goal was to enforce existing rules.

“An example that you’ve heard of recently is the decision that Apple’s tax benefits in Ireland are illegal under state aid rules. Our decision explained that two tax rulings granted by Ireland artificially reduced Apple’s tax burden for over two decades,” the EU official said.

In late August, the European Commission ruled that Ireland must recover 13 billion euros ($14.5 billion) from Apple in back taxes.

The commission said it concluded that Ireland had granted undue tax benefits to Apple in exchange for the tech giant setting up operations on the island, a selective treatment that breached European Union rules governing state aid.

“A government cannot give special tax treatment to certain companies that are not available to others,” Vestager said.

The Apple case unleashed a wave of protests from other U.S. multinationals operating in the EU in an effort to avoid penalties imposed on companies like Amazon and McDonald’s, both of which are being investigated by Brussels.

Vestager plans to meet with U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, who has criticized Europe’s decision in the Apple case.

The EU competition commissioner said European regulators were not targeting U.S. companies and cited a case involving French energy company Engie.

“Just today, we opened an indepth investigation into Luxembourg’s tax treatment of the French electric utility company GDF Suez group now known as Engie. Our concern is that tax rulings issued by Luxembourg may have given GDF Suez an unfair advantage over other companies, in breach of EU state aid rules,” Vestager said.

The latest tensions come amid mistrust on both sides of the Atlantic over trade and as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, or TTIP, talks appear to be going nowhere.