Brussels, 23/09/2014 (Agence Europe) - Joaquin Almunia, the European Competition Commissioner, used his last appearance before the committee on economic affairs of the European Parliament to set the record straight over a number of burning issues he has dealt with during his mandate.
Google. The Google dossier was brought up in the speeches of many MEPs. Basically, Almunia explained that the ball was now in the American online search giant's court. The arguments of the plaintiffs, and only the arguments of the plaintiffs, he stressed, led the Commission to review its position and call for improvements to the commitments proposed in February of this year by Google in response to accusations of abuse of its dominant position. Initially, these commitments were deemed satisfactory by the Commission, but arguments which came in over the summer from plaintiffs changed the opinion of Almunia's services. Google was informed of this; it is Google's move now, but Almunia was unable to say whether this move would be made before the end of October. “If Google's reply goes in the right direction”, then the proceedings to obtain an agreement on the basis of commitments will continue. “Otherwise, the logical next step is to prepare a statement of objections”, Almunia explained. The investigation, which has been under way for the last four years, has caused quite a stir, but four years is still four times shorter than the investigation targeting Microsoft. “And there are more problems with Google than there were with Microsoft”, Almunia stated. He explained that the Google investigation was highly complex: it's like a “moving target that we're trying to hit”, he said, referring to the constant changes in the sector. Almunia went on to point out that the investigation of the American regulators had led nowhere. “You're going to keep hearing a lot more about Google”, he said, by way of conclusion. He said that other investigations would probably be launched, particularly into the Android operating system or the practice of diverging traffic to own services, such as Youtube and Google+.
Hinkley Point. Another highly controversial dossier is the plan to build a nuclear power station in the United Kingdom, at Hinkley Point, and it is believed to be on the brink of approval, following discussions with the British authorities, as Almunia's spokesperson, Antoine Colombani, announced on Monday. The idea is to establish a buy-back tariff with the operator to guarantee it stable income for 35 years, as well as a state guarantee on debts taken out to build the power station. This could push the level of public aid as high as £17 billion. The Commission has not revealed the details of the agreement with the British authorities, but could rubber-stamp the plans in October. On the sidelines of the hearing with the economic committee of the EP, Molly Scott Cato (UK, Greens/EFA) handed a letter to Almunia, calling on him to explain how the decision to recommend the green light to the project had been made. During the hearing, Almunia took pains to stress that the Treaty stipulates that decisions on the energy mix are the remit of the national authorities and were not up for discussion by the Commission. As nuclear is not included in the revised guidelines on state aid to energy and the environment presented this year, the Commission analysed the project on the basis of the principles of the Treaty. Later the same day, French MEP Michèle Rivasi, vice-president of the Greens/EFA group, explained in a press release that she had also asked Almunia for explanations. “The latest information we have received is shocking and, if true, shows the weight of the nuclear lobby with the European Commission”, she said.
Gazprom. Almunia once again denied that he had suspended the investigation into Gazprom, as widely reported in the media and arising from confusion with the suspension of talks to obtain an agreement through commitments. “It was a misunderstanding”, said the vice-president, adding that the Commission was in the process of preparing a statement of objections against the Russian gas giant.
Taxation. Although the G20 has taken up the cause of tax optimisation, Almunia said on Tuesday morning that he expected more from the decision-makers than “rhetorical statements”. “I do not understand why we are doing nothing about tax havens, but there are limits to what we can do”, he added. Last Friday, he said that he may make a proposal to the College to launch further investigations into tax loopholes, along the same lines as those recently launched against Starbucks in the Netherlands, Fiat Finance and Trade in Luxembourg and Apple in Ireland.
Public support to the banking sector. One of the questions of great concern to the MEPs (who plan to question Margrethe Vestager, due to take over the reins from Almunia, on this subject) is that of public support to struggling banks. Almunia said that in the coming years, it would be important to monitor the way in which public money injected into banks would be recovered. He pointed out that since October 2008, 110 banks have received public support.
After all of the efforts made to regulate the traditional financial system, Almunia stressed that much remained to be done on “shadow banking”. Under the auspices of Commissioner Michel Barnier, the Commission made a proposal to this effect this time last year. The previous EP failed to reach a common position on the dossier. (EL)