EU competition commissioner breaks with her predecessor's practices

It comes as little surprise that Margrethe Vestager, the EU's steely competition commissioner, chose to escalate the conflict with Google by issuing formal charges after only six months in the job.

The former Danish deputy prime minister and economy minister has given strong signals that she has wanted to break from the practices of Joaquin Almunia, her predecessor, who favoured back room deals and failed three times to reach a settlement with Google since 2010.

Instead, Ms Vestager has underlined the importance of openly contested cases as a way to map out where the law lies, particularly in the rapidly developing technology sector.

Many of the complainants against Google were convinced that the daughter of two Lutheran priests would announce the charges ahead of her first official visit to Washington on Wednesday.

It would not have been in her character, they said, to sneak out the charges after visiting American legal luminaries this week. Many of those who met her to discuss the case remarked on an intensely principled, moral stance. From 1998 to 2000, she was minister for ecclesiastical affairs.

That grittiness will be tested in other big cases, probably involving Gazprom, Russia's gas export monopoly, and multinationals accused of tax avoidance.

Ms Vestager has rapidly become a keystone of Jean-Claude Juncker's commission, where she blends a sharp intellect with a more folksy charm. During her political career in Denmark, she would knit during important meetings.

Sidse Babett Knudsen, the star of the hit Danish television drama Borgen, studied Ms Vestager as one of the models for her portrayal of prime minister Birgitte Nyborg.

Her announcement of charges against Google was a classic example of how she often blends discussion of important strategic policy with an air of domesticity, styling herself as a parent and Google user.

"Definitely my kids and myself, you know, never consider for a minute that this is that US company or a European company. The reason we use it is that Google has very good products," she said at the announcement of charges.

That homespun dimension to Vestager is evident in her remarkably cosy office in Brussels. One of the most prominent features is a stone marked with "Mor" - Danish for mother.

A keen runner, Ms Vestager also reveals an open-minded mix of cerebral and popular cultural interests. While a fan of Lawrence Durrell's complex literary masterpiece, The Alexandria Quartet, she also loves the Die Hard action movies.

The Google probe has become politically highly charged, particularly drawing out transatlantic tensions.

Ms Vestager said that her own political experience made it easier to build a cocoon around herself and withdraw from the political debate.

As she put it in an interview with the Financial Times last month: "It may sound a little strange but the fact is that there is so much political interest in the case around me made it easier to be strict on being neutral, looking at the facts, weighing arguments and interpretations against each other, and being very much aware that in the end we might meet in court."

© The Financial Times Limited 2015. All rights reserved.
FT and Financial Times are trademarks of the Financial Times Ltd.
Not to be redistributed, copied or modified in any way.
Euro2day.gr is solely responsible for providing this translation and the Financial Times Limited does not accept any liability for the accuracy or quality of the translation