On Wednesday, Reuters reported that Ireland has rejected a demand from the European Commission to collect 13 billion euros in back taxes from Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ:$AAPL).
Last year, the European Commission ruled that the tech giant paid so little tax for its operations based in Ireland that it actually amounted to state aid. However, Irish finance officials said the tax benefit had been available to all corporate entities, and it was not solely open to U.S.-based Apple.
Even though Paschal Donohoe, Irish Finance Minister, said the company didn’t violate Irish or European law, he did say that collecting taxes related to this particular issue isn’t Dublin’s job. “We are not the global tax collector for everybody else,” Donohoe said.
Donohoe also spoke against French and German proposals that the EU should attempt to dissuade Chinese investors from buying certain European companies, stating that such a proposal goes against Europe’s reputation for openness.
“We must be very careful not to endanger our reputation as advocates for free trade,” he said.
He also didn’t seem fully on board with a propoal by French President Emmanuel Macron that would see a euro zone budget, complete with a finance minister. Donohoe instead asserted that the EU’s focus should be set on developing its banking system.
In early afternoon trading Wednesday, Apple stock was up 0.4%.
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