Digital Markets: Von Der leyen too “soft” with the Big tech USA, which have excellent lobbies!
The major EU countries are not very satisfied with the work of the Von Der Leyen Commission, especially on the subject of digital and the development of European web companies. While Brussels envisions a block-level solution for the web and digital market, diplomats from France, Germany and the Netherlands have signed an open letter claiming that the EU is not doing enough, despite Margrethe Vestager's antitrust actions, often bankruptcy.
The letter aimed at the EU initiative to empower American technology companies, called the "Digital Markets Act", arguing that it "lacked ambition". The letter has not yet been made public.
Here's more from the FT :
A document signed by Bruno Le Maire, the French finance minister, Peter Altmaier, the German minister for economic affairs, and Mona Keijzer, the Dutch minister for economic affairs, say that the EU's flagship proposals for the future regulation of technology, the Digital Markets Act, they lack "ambition". The document, which has yet to be published but has been seen by the Financial Times, calls on the EU to strengthen and "accelerate" merger control, particularly when it comes to "platform company strategies of systematically buying nascent companies to stifle competition ".
The letter focused on allowing states to take a "flexible approach" when it comes to enforcement.
“ The effectiveness lies in the combination of measures for all gatekeepers and a flexible case-by-case approach, taking targeted action against the largest players. This includes our efforts to prevent them from regularly acquiring innovative start-ups. This is why we want all gatekeeper mergers and acquisitions to be evaluated by the regulator, ”said Keijzer.
The signatories also called on the European Commission to grant them more power to legislate and enforce technology policy nationwide, just days after Germany opened antitrust cases against Amazon and Google alone. Obviously, breaking down international enforcement would be good news for Amazon and Jeff Bezos (along with the other American tech giants) as it would undermine Brussels' ability to pit low-tax states against each other. In practice, it is believed that the Commission is too dominated by the American big tech lobbies, which does not sufficiently protect the interests of individual countries and national companies that are absorbed and torn apart by these giants, preventing the birth of European structures. Therefore it is to be expected that the European legislation on the digital market will be thoroughly revised by the Council.
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The article Digital Markets: Von Der leyen too "soft" with the Big tech USA, which have excellent lobbies! comes from ScenariEconomici.it .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/mercati-digitali-von-der-leyen-troppo-molle-con-le-big-tech-usa-che-hanno-ottime-lobby/ on Fri, 28 May 2021 14:52:48 +0000.