Fiat, Apple, Starbucks in EU antitrust probe

(ANSA) - Brussels, June 11 - Italian-American car manufacturer Fiat is one of three multinational companies implicated in a probe by the European commission into whether tax arrangements granted by three EU countries amounted to illegal State aid.
    The EU's antitrust regulator said Wednesday it had opened an investigation to examine whether tax deals granted by Luxembourg, Ireland and the Netherlands respectively to Fiat Finance and Trade, Apple and Starbucks were in contravention of European competition rules. "In the current context of tight public budgets, it is particularly important that large multinationals pay their fair share of taxes," said EU antitrust chief Joaquín Almunia.
    Ad hoc tax agreements are not illegal per se under European law, but "they could contain illegal State aid if they involve specific and selective advantages to some companies or groups of companies," the EU regulator pointed out. Brussels is not calling into question the overall tax regimes of the three countries concerned, the antitrust authority said.