Ms Margrethe Vestager:

First, the principle is very important because there needs to be a watertight decision on state aid. Basically, we look backwards to see what happened in the past. Sometimes we look forward when a state aid scheme is notified to us and approval given, for instance, where it is to support renewable energy projects or the roll-out of broadband in rural areas, but otherwise, as in these cases, we look backwards. We are doing this under legislation that was included in the treaty almost 60 years ago. If anyone wants to change the tax system in Europe or a European country, it is done through the front door at the Council.

The Parliament would be heard but it is for the Council to decide. It has to be done by unanimity, which means the Irish Government has its full right to take whatever position it wishes on the legislation proposed. My colleague, Mr. Pierre Moscovici, appeared before this committee and I should not repeat why the Commission tabled the proposal on a common corporate tax base, public country-by-country reporting and the lot. The state aid control goes back decades. The first guidance was give back in 1998. It has been approved by the courts in 2006, long before there was any movement on European tax matters as such. It is not for the Commission. It is for the member states.

The second point I want to add, one aspect I very much admire, is the fact that Ireland is very much leading when it comes to the implementation of the OECD work to make a more global tax community. That is very much appreciated and it does not question the sovereign right of the national authority to set its own tax system either.

The question of selectivity is very important because if there is no selectivity then there is no state aid. That is one of the four criteria for us to use when we look for state aid. The point about the tax ruling is that it is, by nature, specific. It is a ruling that is directed exactly to the company asking for the ruling and it is only applicable to the company which has the ruling. That is why, by nature, when one finds a tax ruling there is selectivity. That does not necessarily lead to the fact that there is also illegal state aid because then other criteria must be fulfilled.