Subhi Agrawal
Over the last ten years, European Union (EU) regulators have engaged in fierce antitrust disputes with major US tech companies like Google and Apple, securing notable victories along the way. Margrethe Vestager, the EU’s competition commissioner, has led these regulatory initiatives.
A Win After A Lengthy Legal Battle
The antitrust chief recently secured a win after a lengthy legal battle with Apple regarding illegal aid provided by the Irish government. The EU’s top court ruled that Apple must now settle an outstanding 13 billion euro tax bill. Praising the decision, Vestager stated, “Today is a huge win for European citizens and tax justice.”
During her two terms as the EU’s antitrust enforcer, Vestager oversaw the implementation of strict new rules, including the Digital Markets Act (DMA), designed to curb the power of major tech companies. As she prepares to step down later this year, her impact on shaping the EU’s competition policy in the digital era is worth reflecting on.
Before becoming known as the EU’s top antitrust regulator, Danish national Margrethe Vestager had an extensive political career. After earning a master’s degree in economics from the University of Copenhagen, she served as head of secretariat at the Danish Agency for Financial Management and Administrative Affairs from 1997 to 1998.
Three Different Antitrust Cases Against Google
In 2014, Vestager was named the European Commission’s commissioner of competition and later, in 2019, became the executive vice president responsible for digital affairs. Her swift ascent from leading a small party to becoming a top EU official is believed to have inspired the character Birgitte Nyborg Christensen in the Netflix series Borgen.
Interestingly, one of Vestager’s initial regulatory moves as the EU competition chief did not focus on tech giants like Google or Amazon. Instead, it involved blocking a merger between two telecom operators: UK-based Hutchison and Spain’s Telefónica.
Since 2017, Vestager has initiated three different antitrust cases against Google, resulting in fines totaling 8.25 billion euros. These penalties were imposed for alleged market dominance abuses related to Google’s shopping platform, Android operating system, and adtech services.
Vestager previously directed Amazon to repay hundreds of millions of euros in taxes and took a firm stance against favorable tax deals offered by local governments to tech companies in return for establishing offices. These actions provoked then-US President Donald Trump, who dubbed her the “tax lady” and claimed she “really hates the US.”
“Keep Innovating On How Tools Work”
In an interview with CNBC earlier this year, Vestager emphasized the critical role of competition in the EU’s digital markets, highlighting its importance in fostering innovation and fairness.
“It’s really important that we keep having competition so that we can keep innovating on how (digital) tools work,” she said.
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