Margrethe Vestager, or Mags as we now like to call her, is slumming it in Dublin today to address the plebs.
The EU's Competition Commissioner is seeking to follow-up her earlier right hook to Apple with a kick in the balls for the dopey Irish. She told our thick-tongued mumblers that, "The European Commission did not exceed its powers and interfere in Irish sovereign affairs when it ordered the State to collect billions of euro in taxes from tech giant Apple." Then she went on to comment that, “We, (the competition authority), are not a tax authority”. So what the fuck is she doing telling us to collect tax from anybody?
Is the haughty lady speaking in forked tongues? The Journal reports that, "Last August, the government appeared to be taken by surprise when the EU Commission found that Ireland had granted Apple tax benefits in the region of €13 billion, which constituted illegal state aid under EU rules." I'll just bet they were surprised, coming as it did from some busybody who had damn all to do with it. Is Mags on a solo run here? Then the aging tart had the temerity to also demand Apple deposit the dough in an escrow account, a sort of financial purgatory before presumably it ascends into EU heaven. The cheek of the bitch!
And you just know she's over here now because the escrow account is empty due to wiser heads just ignoring the bleating annoyance of her. She must have been chancing her arm thinking Ireland and Apple would just roll over and present their bellies for a rub. But the haughty one, it appears, thinks she has a bone and she's not letting go. According to herself the Commission, "Feels that there is a need to do a follow up just to make sure”. Well then Mags, for your information, you can be sure Apple didn't hand over a cent and have no intention of so doing, and you can be equally sure Michael Noonan will see you in hell before ever asking them for it. Is that clear enough Madame?
But Mags is a bit of a politician which can be seen from another of her soundbites today. She rejected the suggestion that, "The ruling would negatively impact Irish public opinion ahead of the Brexit negotiations. Now that's one lady utterly divorced from reality. The bold Mags has been in politics since the age of 21 and what with her degree in economics and her Danish snobbery she must wonder why Apple is in Cork not Copenhagen. One wonders if all of this doesn't come down to some inter-EU member jealousy? With its ailing economy and the departure of the UK, are the big boys in Europe looking around frantically for a good news story for their own electorate. Indeed, was this whole competition ruling cobbled together in the aforementioned Copenhagen rather than Brussels?
Either way, they can shag off. To paraphrase the Donald, 'Ireland will act in its own interests,' (Or at least I should hope so!).