Today Commissioner Vestager has been questioned by the Committee on Economic Affairs on the current position of the EU Commission on competition matters. She has outlined what her priorities were and then has been questioned by a few people on specific topics. Commissioner Vestager’s priorities are the following:
DSM
- Google (android & advertising)
- Amazon (distribution agreements on e-books)
- Qualcom (chips & discriminatory pricing)
Energy Union
- Sector enquiry
- Gazprom SO
- Balancing political decisions within a member state with competition concerns
Financial Services
- Mastercard
- Interchange regulation
- Improving transparency
- Promoting competition between non-banks (e.g. online payment services)
Corporate Tax Evasion
- Case studies required
Other interesting points have been raised such as the discussion on the measurability of non-comparable products within the same market and how to assess dominance/market power when it is difficult to find common denominators.
Finally, Commissioner Vestager has welcomed the discussion with US competition authorities and regulators (on various areas) given that many of the issues in the EU market relate to large multinationals. She showed interest in promoting cross border E-commerce involving telecoms – it is expected that the E-commerce sector enquiry initial findings will be carried out in the beginning of 2016.