The European Union has not entered so called ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ with Google, the European Commission’s competition chief said on Friday.
Joaquin Almunia, while addressing an antitrust conference, defended the recent investigation settlement deal with the search engine giant, which required Google to display search results to its own services in the same way as those for rival companies in order to avoid a potential antitrust fine as high as $5 billion.
Although Almunia is satisfied with the search engine giant’s latest rapprochement, other complainant parties aren’t so willing to accept the latest round of promises as they feel the new promises are not substantially different from previous suggestions.
According to reports, around one third of the members of the European Commission are opposing the deal as they are concerned that the proposals from Google are not good enough. They have also written to Almunia to know the reasons which led him to accept Googles latest offer.
Almunia on Friday said “I have also heard people say that the Commission has entered a gentlemen’s agreement with Google which would lead to a way of dropping the charges or closing the file. Not at all. I believe that, contrary to some opinions, the process is quite transparent and takes into account the interests of all.”
For the deal to be inked, Commission’s approval as a whole will be required. Also, all 18 of the companies which filed the initial complaints against Google will get a final chance to send their reaction to Almunia.
