Brussels, 17/03/2014 (Agence Europe) - A month after announcing it was prepared to accept the formal commitments made by US internet giant Google to allay criticisms of abuse of a dominant position on the world online search and advertising market (see EUROPE 11008 and 11012), EU Competition Commissioner Joaquín Almunia still defends the Commission's decision against criticism from all quarters.
At the European Parliament last week, Almunia attended a closed hearing with a number of MEPs, including Ramon Tremosa i Balcells (ALDE) of Spain. The meeting followed a letter sent a few weeks ago by Tremosa and fellow MEP Andreas Schwab (EPP, Germany) in which the MEPs demanded explanations about the commitments offered by Google, particularly why the Commission finds them an improvement on the present situation. They recommend paying close attention to the comments of the 18 plaintiff companies, including Microsoft, and other parties involved in the investigation, like the European consumers' bureau, (BEUC), which wrote to all European Commissioners on 24 February, along with the president of the Commission, asking them to reject the commitments offered by Google.
Over the phone, Tremosa told this newsletter on Monday 17 March that, at the closed meeting last Tuesday, Commissioner Almunia said that the commitments were “good enough” and were an improvement on the current situation. Tremosa said that despite the Commissioner's comments that this was an urgent case, he could not guarantee he would be able to settle it until October. The Commission has promised to write to each of the plaintiff companies and await their replies before taking a decision. The letters will explain to the plaintiffs why the objections they raised were unfounded, explains a note handed to MEPs.
In the note, the Commission says that Google has offered “far-reaching concessions” on having links to three competing services next to its own links in a clearly visible manner. The note adds: “Imposing strict equal treatment would not be indispensable to remedy the competition concern identified by the Commission”.
In a letter sent by BEUC, the European consumers' bureau, to the European commissioner, BEUC Secretary General Monique Goyens said that “the settlement based on those commitments is unacceptable and will result in the continuing detriment of European consumers”. FairSearch, a coalition of companies and bodies acting in defence of competition in online search engines, wrote to Tremosa on Monday 17 March ahead of the public hearing of Almunia at the EP's economic and monetary policies committee on Tuesday. FairSearch criticises the auction mechanism that will force competitors to pay for the supposed remedy, thus forcing new costs on them to the benefit of Google. FairSearch rejects the Commission's argument that the costs will simply replace the existing paid adverts, explaining that this justification reveals a serious misunderstanding about the way search and connected advertising operate. Tremosa intends to quiz Commissioner Almunia about the Google case at the public hearing on Tuesday. (EL)