Brussels, 26/11/2014 (Agence Europe) - This Thursday, the European Parliament will be called upon to adopt a motion for a resolution on the digital single market which, amongst other things, calls upon the European Commission to consider unbundling the activities of search engines from other commercial services.
On Wednesday 26 November, the Commission stressed that it is important for the application of the competition rules in individual cases to remain independent from politics, whilst Google, which enjoys 90% of the online search market, is currently under investigation by the institution's competition services to determine whether it is abusing its dominant position.
It is highly likely that the text of the EPP, which has the support of the S&D, will be adopted, but will not be binding in nature. The ALDE group, which has put its own text forward, is divided on the issue. Certain MEPs within the group, such as Spain's Ramon Tremosa, who is extremely active on this dossier, will probably get behind the EPP text, whilst others would rather not dictate to the Competition Commissioner, Margrethe Vestager, a member of the Liberal family, how she should do her job.
Vestager feels that the investigation should be limited to competition issues and carried out impartially, said Commission spokesperson Ricardo Cardoso. “It is very important that the application of competition law in individual cases remains independent from politics and that anti-trust procedures are not put into question”, he added.
The Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA) argues that any unbundling of Google's activities could “undermine the credibility of a European Commission investigation by deliberately injecting politics into a legal procedure”, Les Échos reports (our translation). (EL)