On Thursday 18 October, the European Commission cancelled its action before the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) that it brought in October 2017 against Ireland for failure to recover illegal aid that the State had awarded to the company Apple.
This procedure followed the Commission's decision of August 2016 ordering the recovery of the sum of €13 billion (plus €1.3 billion in interest) under a tax ruling that was incompatible with the rules of EU State aid law (see EUROPE 11612).
With the Republic of Ireland having been given until 3 January 2017 to recover the money, the Commission decided to take action before the CJEU, accusing Dublin of failing to take effective action to comply with the above-mentioned decision (see EUROPE 11876).
At the beginning of September, however, Ireland recovered the €14.3 billion in question, which the US company paid into an escrow fund, the Irish finance minister, Paschal Donohoe, confirmed in mid-September (see EUROPE 12098). The Commission has therefore decided to cancel its case against Dublin.
Even so, the affair is still not over, as Ireland and Apple have both appealed against the Commission's 2016 decision. (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)