The EU suffered a major setback in its effort to curb profit-shifting as a European court annulled an order that Apple repay Ireland 13 billion euros ($15 billion) in back taxes. The commission’s historic ruling against Apple was delivered in August 2016 by Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager in a shock decision that put Europe on the map as a scourge of Silicon Valley. The iPhone-maker and Ireland had appealed the order, which Apple CEO Tim Cook slammed at the time as “total political crap”. Vestager was derided as Europe’s “tax lady” by US President Donald Trump because of the case, as well as a series of antitrust fines she imposed on Google. The clear cut decision by the EU’s general court could now face another appeal at the top European Court of Justice, with a decision expected no earlier than 2021, but Vestager said only that Brussels was studying the judgement. French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said “France will continue to fight” for a way to recover more in taxes from global IT giants, in a statement sent to AFP. The EU in 2016 accused Ireland of allowing Apple to park revenue earned in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and India and sparing it almost any taxation. Brussels said this gave Apple an advantage over other companies, allowing it to avoid Irish taxes between 2003 and 2014 of around 13 billion euros ($14 billion).