The Union is suing Britain for illegal aid in Gibraltar

The European Commission said that it had decided to bring an action against the United Kingdom before the Court of Justice of the European Union. The reason is that the British government did not fully recover the illegal state aid of around € 100 million provided in Gibraltar for passive interest and royalties, as requested by the European Commission, before Brexit. The Commission stated that it had adopted a decision in December 2018 concerning the corporate tax exemption scheme in Gibraltar for the period from 1 January 2011 to 30 June 2013 and from 1 January 2011 to 31 December 2013, and also covering: five tax rulings issued between 2011 and 2013. According to the decision of the European Commission, these measures were declared illegal and incompatible with the state aid rules in force in the EU, and therefore the British party had to recover the aid from the beneficiaries. EU state aid rules in principle require the recovery of unlawful state aid, in order to avoid the distortions of competition caused by that state aid. Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for competition policy, stated in this regard that the aid granted to the UK-administered Gibraltar in the form of corporate tax exemptions for passive interest and royalties conferred an unfair advantage on certain multinationals and The United Kingdom and the Gibraltar authorities were to enforce it. "However, even more than two years after the European Commission adopted this decision, the aid still failed to recover in full and insufficient progress has been made in restoring competition. We have therefore decided to bring an action against the United Kingdom before the Court of Justice for non-compliance. this decision, "Vestager said in a report to the media.