BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Commission has referred Britain to the Court of Justice of the European Union for failing fully to recover illegal state aid of up to 100 million euros ($118.9 million)granted as tax exemptions in Gibraltar.
The Commission, which oversees competition policy in the 27-member EU, said on Friday the corporate tax exemptions covered passive interest and royalties between 2011 and 2013 and so took place before Britain exited the European Union.
Margrethe Vestager, the Commission’s vice-president in charge of competition policy, said the aid gave an unfair advantage to some multinational companies and had not been fully recovered more than two years after the corresponding decision.
Recovery was still pending from Mead Johnson Nutrition and partially from Fossil, the Commission said.
($1 = 0.8408 euros)
(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop)
