Brussels, 11/09/2014 (Agence Europe)- The Commissioner for Competition, Joaquin Almunia, has indicated what he intends to do with regard to Google, after having created a surprise over the past few days, with his about turn on the case involving the investigation into misuse of dominant position in the online search engine and advertising domain (see EUROPE 11152). During an anti-trust conference in Washington on Wednesday 10 September, the Commissioner did not rule out the possibility of publishing another statement of objections but it appears more likely that the dossier will ultimately be left in the hands of Margrethe Vestager, who will inherit the Competition portfolio in the forthcoming Commission.
Almunia confirmed to the United States that he had arrived at the conclusion that Google's proposals to close the dossier “should be modified to respond to some serious arguments, serious empirical arguments given by some of the complainants”. Out of 20 complainants, 18 responded to the Commission's letters in this connection, but if it proves impossible to find a solution to these objections, Almunia explained that “we will go back to the prohibition decision route with our statement of objections”.
Almunia asserted that he was waiting for a reply from Google to his request to improve certain aspects of the draft regulation. He will then decide whether the concessions appear sufficient but in “a worst-case scenario, if Google says 'excuse me, but I will not change a single comma of my previous commitments', we will need to prepare a statement of objections”.
He also said that he was “not interested in a quick decision at any price. I am interested in good and rigorous decisions”. It appears to him that no decision will be ready to make until 1 November and that the investigation would continue under the next Commission. He explained that “until the last minute, we will be working on this, but unfortunately the work will not be completed before the end of October”. It will therefore be the responsibility of the next Commissioner for Competition, Margrethe Vestager, who has recently been nominated, to take over this case. (MD)