EU: Vestager takes her time on Google

The European Commission’s new competition chief Margrethe Vestager said she needs more time to resolve the four-year-long investigation into Google’s practices.

Reports say Vestager spoke Tuesday and said she would like to hear more comments from Google rivals and concerned parties before she makes the next step in the investigation. Vestager inherited the case from her predecessor Joaquin Almunia, who failed to resolve the issue despite pressing for a settlement earlier this year.

”To decide how to take our investigations forward, I need to know what those most directly affected by the practices in question have to say,” Vestager said of the current status of the case. “I need to have a representative sample of views of those concerned.”

She added that the dispute is “multifaceted and complex.”

The Commissioner additionally noted that despite calls for the Commission to protect consumer privacy through concessions, the regulator will focus only on competition issues.

Full content: Reuters

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