Brussels, 10/03/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 10 March, the European Parliament adopted, by a large majority (526 votes in favour, 108 against and 59 abstentions), the report by Morten Messerschmidt (ECR, Denmark) on the annual report on the competition policy, which targets the giant Google by name.
The Parliament regrets the fact that after four years of investigations and three series of commitments by the American giant, the Commission has not secured “any tangible result” to resolve the main concern, the preferential treatment Google reserves for its own online search services (see EUROPE 11206 and 11216). The MEPs stressed the need to resolve this dossier as a matter of urgency, to ensure similar competition conditions and ensure the credibility of the digital agenda of the EU.
The Commission is called upon to take strong measures, based on the principle of non-discrimination, against infringements of the competition rules. “This report is not about naming and shaming Google”, Messerschmidt told the plenary debate on the evening of Monday 9 March. “We see negotiations which have been dragging on for four years, the Commission takes initiative after initiative without any results, it needs to lay down a reasonable deadline for solutions to be found”. Ramon Tremosa i Balcells (ALDE, Spain), who has been extremely active on this dossier for a number of years, welcomed the strong mandate the EP has given to Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, with regard to acting on this dossier. “Only with the threat of a fine or a regulation on unbundling will Google finally move”, he said after the vote. The plenary debate also looked at the LuxLeaks scandal. In its adoption of Messerschmidt's report, the EP calls on the Commission to redirect resources into reinforcing the competition teams, in order to carry out investigations into state aid on a broader and deeper basis, particularly in taxation matters. The EP called for greater involvement in devising and adopting guidelines. (Elodie Lamer)