Google's foes in Germany and France cheer antitrust charges

The launch of EU antitrust charges against Google has triggered celebrations in Berlin and Paris, where European companies troubled by the tech giant's strength have found common cause with politicians anxious about US economic dominance.

Germany's economics minister Sigmar Gabriel said that he "warmly welcomed" the European Commission's decision while Axel Springer, Europe's biggest newspaper publisher, said it was "a good signal for consumers and fair competition".

European companies led by Springer - publisher of the tabloid Bild - and France's Lagardere joined forces last year as the Open Internet Project to lobby the commission about Google. "This is only the first step. We were in the Wild West without a sheriff," said Benoit Sillard, chairman of the Open Internet Project. "We want neutrality and pluralism - if we don't have that then we'll be in a system where the winner takes all."

A broad coalition of businesses have filed antitrust complaints against Google including Microsoft and travel sites such as Expedia as well as European publishers.

Companies like Springer fear Google's quasi-monopoly on search in Europe has the power to make or break their businesses. Springer's chief executive Mathias Dopfner argues that while his publications benefit from the traffic brought by Google, the search engine ought to compensate publishers for the display of text snippets in search results. Deutsche Telekom, Europe's biggest telecoms company by revenue, complains of unfair competition. Tim Hottges, the telecoms company's chief executive says that companies like Google and Facebook are turning into communications services without having to invest in telecoms infrastructure.

At the heart of business and political concerns is the fear that European economies will ultimately be dominated by a handful of American digital businesses. Many see Finland's Nokia, which lost ground to Apple's iPhone and Google's Android system, as a "warning sign", said Stefan Heumann of the Stiftung Neue Verantwortung, a Berlin think-tank. "Initially this was publishers against platforms. Now it is about Google expanding its reach into areas of traditional manufacturing [like] cars and home appliances. This has German industry worried," Mr Heumann said.

Last year, Mr Gabriel warned that "this [digital] infrastructure will be controlled by a handful of American internet concerns, which could dominate the economic life of the 21st century."

Both Paris and Berlin say that "essential" digital platforms could be brought under rules governing telecoms companies. On Wednesday, Mr Gabriel urged the commission to adopt German proposals to rein in the power of "dominant platforms". These proposals would oblige Google to present competing offers without charging, and to provide access to content without discrimination.

Anti-Google lobbyists were heartened by last year's appointment of new commissioners such as Margrethe Vestager, the competition commissioner. Berlin and Paris had previously pressured former competition chief Joaquin Almunia to abandon a proposed settlement, amid fears it was too generous to Google. Springer's Mr Dopfner then lobbied publicly for Jean-Claude Juncker to become European Commission president.

Germany's Gunther Oettinger, the commissioner for the digital economy, has criticised Google's use of copyrighted material, and lobbyists say he is sympathetic to the idea of pre-emptive action to rein in Google's clout. In France, politicians are already moving in favour of such action. On Wednesday night, the French Senate was expected to adopt a bill that would allow the country's national telecoms regulator to monitor search engines' algorithms, with powers to ensure that search results do not discriminate.

Additional reporting by Anne-Sylvaine Chassany

This article has been edited since it was first published

© 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