EU: New competition chief Vestager quickly confirmed

The new European Commission competition head, Margrethe Vestager, has been confirmed by the European Parliament to her position, reports say.

Officials announced Friday that Vestager secured confirmation for the position, to which she was appointed last month. She will start on November 1.

Vestager will take the place of current Commissioner Joaquin Almunia and therefore inherit several significant and controversial cases currently being examined by antitrust authorities. Among those cases is the ongoing probe of Google, which has thrice failed to convince the Commission that its concessions are adequate to end the investigation. Google is accused of abusing its market dominance in the way it displays its own services in search results over rivals’ services.

While Vestager received swift clearance from Parliament, reports say some other nominees were not so lucky.

Three of new EC chief Jean-Claude Juncker’s nominations had their approval delayed following hearings at Parliament. New economy chief Pierre Moscovici, new head of financial services Jonathan Hill, and new climate and energy commissioner Miguel Arias Canete were not immediately cleared by lawmakers to take their positions.

Full content: Reuters and Businessweek

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