The new draft proposal forwarded by the European Parliament which aims for the separation of Google’s search engine from the rest of its commercial services was not well received by the United States, Cnet reports. The response of the US Mission to the European Union to the proposal was full of concern and protective to the rights of the American search giant – as you might expect it to be.
The European Parliament has published a draft proposal that would require Google to unbundle its search engine from the rest of its services on the European market. The pronounced goal of the proposal is to offer Google’s European competitors equal chances of success on the local search market and to prevent the search giant from abusing of its influence to hurt its competitors. The European Commission has already investigated claims of Google abusing of its influence, favoring its own services instead of offering competitors an equal chance. The investigation has resulted a settlement, under which Google agreed to display search results for its own products in the same way as for its rivals.
In an email statement sent to The Wall Street Journal, the US Mission has expressed its concerns about the proposal forwarded by the European Parliament. “It is important that the process of identifying competitive harms and potential remedies be based on objective and impartial findings and not be politicized,” it said. Such a proposal – said to have severe political overtones, as well as the implication of Microsoft, and French and German media companies respectively – would have far reaching consequences. For one, it would create a precedent, besides giving European authorities the opportunity to bully a successful American company. Google’s dominant position on the European web search market remains a concern for European politicians, and they will challenge it whenever they have the chance.