On Thursday, in London's' Connected Live 'conference, Vestag said the government of Ireland has made too little progress in earning € 13bn ($ 15.2bn) in taxes from Apple, saying:' We can not Wait here, we need to do something, and in order to restore a level playing field, it is imperative to recuperate the tax, and the sooner the better.
In October of this year, the European Commission sued Ireland for the European Court of Justice, saying that the Irish government did not promptly request Apple to pay the tax. Apple and the Irish government have filed a petition. The EU accused last year that Ireland gave Apple special preferential treatment to reduce the The company's effective corporate income tax rate.
The U.S. Treasury Department at that time described the EU as "beyond the country's tax department," which could threaten global tax reform efforts, while Vestag's critics said she is biased against U.S. companies, but she denied it .
Vestage said on Thursday: 'We have no conflict with the United States. If someone says we have a prejudice against the United States, then I will take it very seriously.'
She insists she does not want to prevent large companies from doing business on a large scale in Europe and increase their market share in Europe, saying: 'You are welcome to grow in Europe and we are not opposed to monopoly but you can not abuse your abilities.'
She also said she opposed the spin-off of big companies, saying: 'I think it would be faster and better if companies were allowed to compete on their own.'