ECJ Adviser Mostly Backs EU’s Voiding of Belgian Tax Break (2)

The European Court of Justice should uphold General Court rulings finding a Belgian tax break for multinationals amounted to illegal state aid, an adviser to the court wrote Thursday in seven nonbinding opinions.

But the ECJ should limit the European Commission’s attempts to recoup money from companies that didn’t directly benefit from the aid, known as the “excess profit” tax scheme, Advocate General Juliane Kokott said in three of the opinions.

According to Kokott, it can’t be concluded from referenced case law that “a supposed controlling position based on the performance of core functions within a group suffices for an ...