The appeal against the Apple ruling was being pursued for political reasons, according to a Belgian MEP MATTHIAS SCHRADER/APIreland is highly unlikely to win an appeal against the ruling that it granted Apple illegal state aid worth €13 billion, according to a member of the EU’s committee on tax rulings. Philippe Lamberts, a Belgian MEP, was speaking before a today’s European parliament debate on the recent European Commission ruling. He said that Ireland has “close to zero chance” of winning its appeal, which he believed was being pursued for “political reasons”. Philippe Lamberts criticised Ireland for “basically accepting that a company pays close to zero taxes” SAMUEL DIETZ/GETTY IMAGES“I am not sure that all Irish citizens will be very happy to see that the Irish government spontaneously renounces tax income of €13 billion. Maybe some…

Source: The Times September 13, 2016 22:58 UTC