The down side of this approach is that some times big corporations don't pay taxes and then citizens have to put money for the fines. So the final result depends on how corrupt is the government, how much it wants to protect the corporations and how much hate it will accept from their citizens.
Well, that's like, your opinion, man.
The EU Commission usually doesn't put the hammer down because of trivialities, especially when they are as politically hot as this is. If they push, it's because they're pretty certain that they have grounds (and political support across the Union) for it.
In addition, EU directives are often relatively generic, giving grounds for 1) different national approaches and 2) flexible interpretation by the courts. When courts are called to have their say, they usually follow the political climate pretty faithfully. I can tell you the appetite for a tax shakedown of multinationals is huge in Europe at the moment.
Should Ireland weasel out of this ruling they will face ostracism elsewhere, at a time when they can ill afford it (being one of the countries that will suffer the most if Brexit is not resolved in an amicable manner). They will try (they have to, to save face), but it's unlikely that they will succeed. The party is over.
> The EU commission is not supposed to have any say over tax issues
Au contraire: rules against industrial state-sponsoring have been on the books since Maastricht, I believe. One of the main critiques of the EU is exactly that this straight-jacked national governments, which found themselves without powerful levers to manage their economies. In practice, these rules have been selectively applied, depending on the political climate. Such climate is now very unfavourable towards "onshore tax havens".
> that will be thrown out on
> appeal to the European
> courts, mark my words
TBH, it's about damn time Ireland gets the bill for 25 years of thinly-veiled dumping. Luxembourg and Netherlands should be next on the list.