The Advocate General ' s Opinion in Commission v. Ireland and Apple

In a surprising opinion handed down in November 2023, Advocate General Pitruzzella agreed with the European Commission that Apple was given unlawful state aid by Ireland. The Advocate General recommended that the European Court of Justice uphold the Commission's two central grounds of appeal. This note will look at each in turn, highlighting how the Advocate General fails to properly apply previous case law, to sense the general mood around the application of the state aid rules to tax administration, and to account for the (overinclusive) consequences of his approach. As a result, it is highly unlikely that the European Court of Justice will agree with the Advocate General.