Brussels, 27/02/2004 (Agence Europe) - Reijo Kemppinen, spokesperson to President Prodi, stressed on Thursday that the inter-services consultation of the European Commission on the draft decision on Microsoft were carried out "without friction" and in a "constructive" climate. "Several newspapers have put forward differing opinions in their comments, but present a distorted image of the process", said the spokesperson. Mr Kemppinen was reacting to recently published articles, which state that pressure was brought to bear by certain Commissioners (such as Mr Bolkestein and Mr Lamy) on their colleague Mario Monti, to persuade him to soften his stance on Microsoft. The spokesperson said that, pending the final decision, "Commissioner Monti's approach had the approval of the President and the Commissioners".
A source close to the dossier said that Microsoft will meet the European authorities on 15 March to discuss the preliminary conclusions, reached by the European Executive.
After the US and Europe, it is Japan's turn to be concerned at Microsoft's behaviour. The Japanese competition authorities have announced that investigators began an inquiry on Thursday in the offices of the American group in Tokyo, to look for evidence of anti-competitive behaviour. This has been confirmed by Microsoft itself.