European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said the EU executive would propose new rules next year to provide a level playing-field between bricks-and-mortar companies and digital ones.But European countries are split over whether online companies such as Google, Facebook and Amazon should pay more tax, with smaller EU members such as Ireland and Luxembourg – which host many online businesses – worried that taxes would hurt their competitiveness without a global solution.

“People moan that there is no European Google, that there is no European Facebook, that there is no European LinkedIn, but my view is that if you want those things in Europe and you want those types of companies to generate in Europe it’s not through heavy taxes and high regulation that you achieve tha…