"Queen of Brussels": Who fined Google $ 5 billion?

Margret Vestager Competition Commissioner at a press conference on the antitrust case against Google, Brussels, Belgium, June 27, 2017

Photo: EPA / OLIVIER HOSLET

$ 5 billion is a fine imposed on Google for violating the rules of fair competition in the Internet market. Two years ago, Apple received three times more fine. Margret Vestager, European Commissioner for Competition, is behind record sanctions against giants of technology

If German Chancellor Angela Merkel is called "Queen of Europe", then Vestagere is "Queen of Brussels ". Who is she, why she is so respected in Brussels and what the American companies are concerned about – tells the public

Queen of Brussels

"The Danes really respect it, – declared to Sanni Jensen, a local journalist – She achieves her goals. "

While she was still a political woman of the opposition in Denmark, she pushed the coalition to able to raise the retirement age from 60 to 65. The population was opposed to the form, but it did not harm Vestagar. On the contrary, his party ratings have increased. His party "Radical West" lost his position only when the leader left the Danish policy, having become international.

In Denmark, she is known for being a strict and confident politician. At the same time, for the love of knitting, bread and attention to former party members she remembers even after leaving the police, former colleagues mention her as a mother, writes the BBC.

In Europe, the Vestager is not respected. Ricard Yosvyak, a Public Broadcasting Freelance correspondent in Brussels, told reporters: "He is a very competent politician, with humor, but at the same time hard." Many would like to see her as President of the European Commission. "

Whom Addresses Fine?

Investigations L & # EU is linked to Google's contracts with mobile phone manufacturers In particular, the EU considers that free competition is the default setting on PlayMarket's smartphones, which preconfigure users to download software specifically. for Google and, according to the European Commission, it hampers competition.

"The market that was supposed to serve everyone becomes more private owned by several influential companies" – says Vestager in a speech Ted, dedicated to monopolies. Google has not been fined for the first time. At the same time, it is not the only company to fall under the watchful eye of Vestagere: two years ago, it fined Apple $ 15 billion for unjustified tax breaks from Ireland

. When asked at a press conference how she counts the amount, Vestager evokes the degree of severity and duration of the violations in comparison with the company's business figure [19659004] "Then we enter our matrix and – the bats! – There is a number" ", said the European Commissioner.

Besides Google and Apple, the committee of the competition has also investigated other cases, resulting in billions of fines.In 2016 – $ 4.4 billion for unions, who have secretly agreed to set prices for car parts. was forced to pay more than $ 1 billion after the announcement by the European Commission that she was paying important customers to buy the products of their competitors.It conducts surveys not only from American but also European companies

" It's not so easy to defraud "," said Danish Danish journalist Sanny Jensen. The steamer stops at nothing. Even at the time of the most tense relationship between the United States and Europe over the last decade, despite the likely inconvenience for European Android users (the Google executive director assumes that the platform is paying off), she continues to work. Donald Trump before the head of the European Commission, Jean Claude Juncker, called him "a tax lady who hates the United States."