I too have a problem with all this retroactive rule-fudging.
There is no rule fudging here. The rules were the same as they are now and as they will be in the foreseeable future. They state clearly that offering one company a different tax rate from the rate levied to everyone else IS A STATE AID. There is nothing retroactive about the commission decision. The precedent base on this as old as the common market with companies like EDF and some of the other utilities being the first to get whacked decades ago.
Apple, Amazon, etc simply got away with it for a while because the previous commission had one modus operandi with large businesses: "How would you like it sir? With ice cubes or with hot coffee. The Ky-jelly is next to the Eu taxpayer and there is also a choice of whips, Vaseline and anything else you may like sir".
It could have been (theoretically) delayed with this commission too if not for the Guardian digging out the dirt Lux laundry and BrExit reminding the commissioners that they will be without a job soon if they do not show Joe Average Tax Paying voter that they actually can put their pants back on and get back to what they were elected for and are being paid to do.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
