EU's Vestager says court rulings on Apple taxes, EU data transfer tool are a 'loss'

EU Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager holds a news conference at the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium July 16, 2020. Stephanie Lecocq/Pool via REUTERS

The European Union's antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager said on Thursday that EU court rulings this week, which saw courts reject a key EU tool used to transfer Europeans' personal data across the Atlantic and reject an EU order for Apple to pay 13 billion euros in Irish back taxes, were a "loss".

"The first thing you do when you get a court judgement is to read it very, very carefully. And we are still in the process of doing that. Of course, it's a loss, because it was an annulment by the court," Vestager said during an online event.

"The only comfort here is that the court agrees with us that we can use state aid tools to look at fiscal state aid as well. But now we read it very carefully, and then decide on next steps," she said.

FILE PHOTO: European Union Commission Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager talks during a video news conference, to present a "White Paper" to better arm the EU against unfair competition from heavily subsidised foreign companies, at the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium June 17, 2020. Kenzo Tribouillard/Pool via REUTERS

(Reporting by Kate Abnett, editing by Marine Strauss)