EU finance ministers line up behind tax ruling against Apple

Netherland’s Minister of Finance Jeroen Dijsselbloem during press conference after the Eurogroup’s deliberations at the Informal Meeting of Ministers for economic and financial affairs in Bratislava, Slovakia, Friday, Sept. 9, 2016. Ministers for economic and financial affairs gather for a two-day informal meeting in the Slovak capital, where they will discuss BREXIT, EU economic policies, and the migration crisis. (AP Photo/Bundas Engler)

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) — EU finance ministers are lining up behind an EU Commission ruling that technology giant Apple owes billions of euros because it didn’t pay the proper tax in the European Union for more than a decade.

Going into Saturday’s last session of their two-day meeting, Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem and several counterparts urged Apple to pay a bill that analysts say could reach 19 billion euros ($21 billion) with interest.

Dijsselbloem told reporters that “international companies have an obligation to pay taxes in a fair way.”

He says international tax loopholes are a thing of the past, and that Apple will have to pay back taxes both in the United States and Europe, “so get ready to do that.”

Both Apple and Ireland, Apple’s European headquarters, are appealing the decision.