Brussels (AFP)

Starbucks on Tuesday won their first victory in European court, while Fiat suffered a first defeat in their battle against the EU forcing them to repay undue tax benefits, respectively in the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

The two judgments of Tuesday, likely to appeal, were eagerly awaited, because they had to give an idea of ​​how the judges of Luxembourg would decide on a similar case: the emblematic case Apple.

However, Tuesday's decisions differing in both cases, it is difficult to draw a conclusion for the US computer giant.

"The judgments concerning Starbucks and Fiat show the need to have better tax legislation in the EU," Oxfam, an NGO active in the fight against tax evasion, tersely said.

Sanctioned just under four years ago, Starbucks and Fiat, as well as the Netherlands and Luxembourg, had lodged appeals against the European Commission's decision in the EU court.

On the same day in October 2015, the American coffee chain and the Italian car manufacturer were ordered by the Commission to reimburse up to 30 million euros each, the first in the Netherlands and the second in Luxembourg.

The two companies were the first of a long series of multinationals targeted by the European Commissioner for Competition, Margrethe Vestager, one of the stars of the team of Jean-Claude Juncker, for receiving a tax treatment deemed too favorable .

But for the EU court, "the Commission has failed to demonstrate the existence of a benefit in favor of Starbucks". Conversely, in the case of Fiat, the judges confirm "the validity of the Commission's decision".

According to Danish Vestager, former Minister of the Economy in her country, these tax benefits amounted to state aid, illegal under European rules, since they cause a distortion of competition.

- Indignation -

It was this same reasoning that the Commissioner had followed in the Apple case, which hit the headlines less than a year later. On August 30, 2016, Mrs. Vestager ordered the US giant to repay Ireland 13 billion euros in tax arrears.

This emblematic case had allowed Vestager to establish her reputation as Iron Lady: during her five-year term, she had clearly set herself the goal of fighting for the tax consolidation of multinational corporations.

This had later earned him the wrath of President Donald Trump, who called him "Tax Lady" and accused him of hating the United States.

Her intransigence proved to be worthwhile in any case for her career: within the new European Commission, of which the German Ursula von der Leyen will take the lead on November 1st, Mrs. Vestager took the lead.

She is now Executive Vice President, has retained the highly competitive portfolio, and is also responsible for the regulation of digital businesses.

Welcoming Tuesday's ruling, Dutch Finance Minister Menno Snel said "the European court's ruling proves that the Dutch tax authorities treated Starbucks like other companies, and not better or differently".

The Luxembourg government, on the other hand, was more circumspect: "Luxembourg takes note of the judgment delivered today ... it will analyze the judgment with all due diligence and reserve all its rights".

The extremely favorable tax treatment of large companies by certain states, such as Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, wanting to ensure investments and jobs on their soil, has been denounced by NGOs for many years.

The outrage against such practices increased after the financial crisis, arousing public resentment at the hands of wealthy people who paid relatively little tax while the people suffered austerity.

© 2019 AFP