Ireland’s appeal of Apple ruling merely the opening salvo

Minister for Finance Michael Noonan may have taken something of a back seat in the recent high-octane discussions over pay restoration, leaving much of the negotiation to his ministerial colleague in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. However, he is not neglecting his international profile.

Last Saturday Mr Noonan was in Bratislava for the annual Tatra conference, an economic think-in that attracts the great and the good of the European financial world. The Irish Finance Minister took to the stage alongside the head of the euro group working group Thomas Wieser and Guntram Wolff, director of Brussels think-thank Bruegel. The subject was flexibility in EU budget rules – a sensitive political topic in light of continuing defiance from Italy over upholding debt and deficit targets prescribed by Brussels.

Mr Noonan will be back in Brussels on Monday and Tuesday for scheduled meetings of European finance ministers. As it happens, his visit comes days before the November 10th deadline by which the Government must lodge its appeal over the Apple ruling to the European Court of Justice.

First bite of the Apple

All signs are that the appeal will be lodged in Luxembourg next week; simultaneously, close contacts are taking place between Irish officials and the competition wing of the commission over the process for recouping the €13 billion due from Apple. While the money must be paid by December, the focus is now on the final figure, as Irish officials work to apply the commission’s methodology to their own information, a process that is likely to result in changes to the commission’s €13 billion estimate.

Apple, which has retained Freshfields lawyers in Brussels, is then expected to lodge its own appeal in the courts.

Whether both succeed in overturning the judgment is the 13 billion dollar question, though a number of competition experts believe the commission may flounder on the selectivity question as it tries to prove that the tax deal was only available to Apple.

In any event, a final outcome is still years away. Next week’s appeal will be the opening shot in a very long process.