Europe rejects Google’s antitrust settlement proposals yet again

The European Commission has turned down Google’s latest antitrust settlement proposals again, meaning the search giant will have to revise those proposals yet again if it wants to avoid big fines or even worse sanctions. European Union competition chief Joaquin Almunia said that Google’s latest proposals “are not proposals that can eliminate our concerns regarding competition.”

This is at least the second time the Commission has said no to Google’s evolving settlement offer. Almunia said: “The latest offer as submitted by Google in October, following the series of consultations that we have carried out with more than 100 interlocutors -- those who submitted complaints against Google, the relevant participants in the sector and a lot of other people -- the latest proposals are not acceptable in the sense that they are not proposals that can eliminate our concerns regarding competition and in particular regarding the way Google’s rivals in vertical search -- search for products and price comparison, restaurants, etc. — are being treated.” He added, “At this moment there is little time left, but the ball is still in Google’s court. But within a short timeframe, the ball will then be here and then it will be the moment to take decisions.”