DUBLIN, Aug 30 (Reuters) - An order by European Union antitrust regulators for Apple to pay up to 13 billion euros ($14.5 billion) in taxes is a bizarre exercise in politics, Ireland's finance minister said on Tuesday.
"As far as I am concerned there is no economic basis for this decision," Michael Noonan told state broadcaster RTE. "It's bizarre and its an exercise in politics by the Competition Commission."
"They don't have responsibility for taxes and they are opening a back door through state aid to influence tax policy in European countries when the European treaties say tax policy is a matter for sovereign governments," he added.
(Reporting by Conor Humphries, editing by Louise Heavens)