Juli1Levy

sog35 said:

Ireland has the right to charge any tax rate it wishes. 
Ireland has the right to make certain corporations exempt from taxes. (exa. hospitals, foreign corps and charity organizations)
Ireland has the right to lower taxable profits for certain products or services. (exa. software products)

These are the rights of a SOVEREIGN STATE.

The EU has no right to decide what kind of tax policy Ireland uses. 
The only enforcement power the EU has is if a specific company can break Irish tax laws while other companies can't. 
Apple has not broken a SINGLE IRISH TAX LAW. That means any other company could have done the EXACT same things Apple had done and achieve the same lower tax rate.

This decision by the EU is saying that Ireland no longer has the SOVEREIGN right to decide what taxes they can charge.  This is madness. The EU is and was never suppose to be the ULTIMATE TAXING AUTHORITY of Europe. Its absolutely ridiculous. 

Well, If Ireland were not in the EU, Apple would not have their headquarter there. 
Ireland is attractive BECAUSE it is a member of the EU and you have a free access to the whole European market from there.
A consequence is that the country must respect common rules, which necessarily, but willingly, limits sovereignty.
A tax of 12,5% on profit is already a kind of fiscal dumping. A tax of 0% is a loophole. 
Apple is a great company but companies should pay taxes on their profit. The typical Apple answer is that they respect the law. They made a deal with the Irish government, but unfortunately for them, this a ménage à trois: as all the profit from Europe goes to Ireland, the European Commission can inquire to make sure that it does not create unfair competition. Paying no tax at all on huge profits does.
Beyond Apple, European startups suffer from the competition of extra-european companies, such as Amazon, because they pay high taxes in their home countries, while these companies stroke a deal with a government (Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands...) to avoid taxation. Amazon is a tough competitor but when it does not pay taxes and you pay them, competition becomes unfair.
Competition is good when the same rules apply to all: this is a basic principle of economic liberalism (i.e., free market). This decision will not hurt investment in Europe, as Tim Cook says, it will push companies to be more responsible.