Irish border solution will be found, says EU competition chief

The EU Competition chief has said she is “absolutely certain” that a solution will be found to the Irish border backstop issue.

European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said the European Union and the European Parliament stand firm with Ireland throughout the Brexit process.

Speaking in Dublin, where she received Trinity College Historical Society’s Gold Medal for outstanding contribution, the commissioner said solutions will be found to deal with the Single Market.

Asked whether a hard Brexit will make maintaining custom rules between Northern Ireland and the Republic possible, she said: “You have a saying, we pass that bridge when we get there.

“But, that being said, I think the important thing here is that we are in this together because so far we have shown that the European member states, the Parliament, the Commission stands by Ireland and that is very important.

“Of course we have a responsibility to the Single Market, we will find solutions in respect of how we have dealt with things so far.

“I am absolutely certain that we will find a solution that respects the specific situation of Ireland and Northern Ireland.”

She denied that other EU member states were softening their position on their support for Ireland.

She added: “The only silver lining in this process – because it’s a very, very sad thing that the British decided to leave – is that fact that the 27 have come together, that negotiations under the leadership of Michel Barnier have been transparent.”

Addressing the Apple case and Ireland’s corporate tax regime, which has been criticised by world leaders in Davos, she said the EU has closed loopholes.

In 2016 the European Commission found that Apple had received unfair tax incentives from the Republic and ordered the tech giant to pay back a 13 billion euro Irish tax bill it said was owed to the state.

“The Apple case has now been corrected in the fact that Ireland has collected the unpaid taxes, and now the court will deal with it,” she added.

“We are moving forward. Ireland, as well as a number of other countries, have changed their tax laws, Europe has closed loopholes and has put in place rules to avoid base erosion and profits being shifted.”

She said the European Commission would like to introduce an EU-wide common corporate tax base as it would minimise red tape for smaller companies which trade in two or three member states.

“It will make it more difficult for our multinationals to do tax arbitrage between different tax bases,” she added.

The commissioner also said that digital companies should be taxed in the same way as other firms.

“It’s very much alive in a number of member states. The French decided they would do it and they are joining a number of other EU member states who say we want fair competition between digital companies and more traditional companies,” she added.

“We will keep pushing from the commissioner side, and it’s a high priority of the presidency.

“We will keep putting the arguments on the table as to why this is a good idea to see if solutions can be found.”