MENA Newswire News Desk: The European Union’s antitrust chief, Margrethe Vestager, celebrated significant victories on Tuesday after the EU’s top court upheld rulings against Apple and Google in two high-profile cases. Vestager, known for her tough stance on Big Tech, secured the EU Court of Justice’s decision that Apple must pay €13 billion ($14.4 billion) in back taxes to Ireland and a €2.4 billion fine against Google for anti-competitive practices.
The EU competition watchdog hailed the rulings as a win for fairness and justice. “Today is a huge win for European citizens and tax justice,” Vestager said in a statement. The rulings bolster Vestager’s legacy as she prepares to step down in November after aggressively pursuing tech giants for what she described as unfair tax deals and anti-competitive actions.
The case against Apple dates back to 2016 when the European Commission ordered the iPhone maker to repay Ireland €13 billion in taxes. The Commission argued that Apple benefited from favorable Irish tax rulings that allowed it to reduce its tax bill to as low as 0.005% in 2014. Apple and Ireland both challenged the ruling, but the EU’s highest court sided with the Commission.
Apple expressed disappointment with the decision, stating, “The European Commission is trying to retroactively change the rules, and we have always paid our taxes in full.” Ireland, whose low tax regime has attracted many tech companies, also voiced concern, but has since agreed to reforms in corporate tax rules.
In a separate ruling, the EU Court also rejected Google’s appeal against a €2.4 billion fine imposed for abusing its dominant position in the online search market. The Commission fined Google in 2017 for favoring its price comparison service over smaller rivals in Europe. Google said it had made changes to comply with the ruling, but the court upheld the fine. Both decisions are final and cannot be appealed. With these victories, the EU’s stance on regulating Big Tech seems poised to continue under Vestager’s successor.