Spain has poor case on tax

The European Court of Justice’s Chief Minister Peter Caruana said that Spain faces an “uphill task” if it decides to challenge the ruling on regional selectivity regarding the Gibraltar tax case.

The court’s decision in 2008 meant Gibraltar could operate a different tax system to the UK, and is considered to be essential to the Rock’s future as a respected EU financial centre.

But Spain announced that it planned to appeal against the decision. It also intends to include the regional selectivity issue in its challenge.

Mr Caruana said he had now seen Spain’s court filing and was confident that it would not prosper.

“I think it’s long on politics and short on legal merit,” Caruana said.
“They are looking at the issue of regional selectivity but if I had to be a lawyer representing one case or the other, I’d much rather be representing our case than theirs, which seems a very uphill task.”

The European Commission has also appealed against the court’s decision in the Gibraltar tax case. This is, however, on different grounds which exclude the critical issue of regional selectivity.

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