>The EU's claim, I think, is not that the deal is special in its entirety, but that Ireland's ruling on the exact fiddly details of how profits are allocated to

>The EU's claim, I think, is not that the deal is special in its entirety, but that Ireland's ruling on the exact fiddly details of how profits are allocated to different Apple subsidiaries is, uh, irregular. It's a pretty technical accounting point. Yes, the claim is that it is "irregular" in the sense that Apple got it and other companies may not get it. That's the special deal. Whether or not the EC is right is for the court to decide. But the fact that the ruling is on the question of a special deal means that it cannot at the same time be a ruling on the compliance of Irish law with EU law.