Competition
Le Maire renews push for EU-wide digital services tax
Renewed plans to roll out an EU-wide digital services tax may be back on the cards and could be agreed by the end of March, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said in an interview published on Sunday (20 January).
Electric bikes still face uphill ride in EU as China tariffs take effect
EU rules are doing a lot to promote the use of electric vehicles but tax reform proposals and motor insurance requirements risk undercutting a growing market for electric bicycles.
Commission investigates if Netherlands benefited Nike with tax bill
The European Commission decided on Thursday (10 January) to open an in-depth investigation to determine whether the Netherlands had breached EU rules by allowing Nike to cut its tax bill through complex financial schemes.
Katainen ‘open’ to consider tweaks to competition policy
European Commission Vice-President Jyrki Katainen told journalists on Tuesday that he would be “open” to consider changes to update competition law in order to cope with the strong competition of US and China firms, but discarded reforming “entirely” antitrust rules as they worked “well”.
Italy’s Salvini attacks France, Germany over shipbuilding intervention
Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini attacked France and Germany on Tuesday (8 January) over their role in a European Union investigation into a planned merger involving Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri.
Factcheck: Did EU gas liberalisation rules put Bulgaria’s national security at risk?
Bulgarian minister Temenuzhka Petkova has said her country preferred paying a multi-million euro fine rather than follow a Commission injunction. Such a reform, in her words, would have threatened the country's national security. EURACTIV checked the facts.
19 EU countries call for new antitrust rules to create ‘European champions’
A total of 19 EU governments have proposed updating the EU’s antitrust rules in order to facilitate the emergence of European industrial giants able to face “fierce competition” from the US and China.
Vestager: We would have preferred to close the Bulgaria gas case without a fine
The Commission imposed on Monday (17 December) a multi-million fine on Bulgaria’s BEH for blocking access to key natural gas infrastructure in the country. Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said the fine could have been avoided, had Sofia decided to follow another negotiation strategy.
Commission to fine Bulgaria over gas market distortions
The European Commission will fine Bulgarian Energy Holding as early as this month for hindering rivals’ access to key gas infrastructure, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday (11 December), based on information from three sources familiar with the dossier.
EU turns eye to ‘fake’ Google shopping rivals
The EU's top competition enforcer said Brussels was taking a closer look at allegations that Google had helped introduce false price comparison sites to answer a historic ruling against the search engine giant.
With eyes on China, EU agrees investment screening rules
The European Union on Tuesday (20 November) provisionally agreed on rules for a far-reaching system to coordinate scrutiny of foreign investments into Europe, notably from China, to end what a negotiator called "European naivety".
EU closes in on system to screen foreign investment
The European Union is poised to settle on Tuesday (20 November) on a far-reaching system to coordinate scrutiny of foreign investments into Europe, notably from China.
France continues fight against ‘gold plating’ of EU laws
French senators have removed around 20 over-transpositions of EU directives, which are considered to harm businesses’ competitiveness. This was part of a “tidying-up” mission which is sometimes at odds with the public interest. EURACTIV France reports.
Spain’s La Liga says ready to turn to EU over City and PSG cases
The Spanish soccer league’s organising body La Liga is ready to turn to the European Union if UEFA does not enforce its Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules against Manchester City and Paris St Germain, a spokesman told Reuters on Tuesday....
French people barely comforted by positive economic conditions
France tends to develop in the opposite direction to the rest of the eurozone and the economic lights are now on green. However, French morale tells a very different story and the international situation raises concerns among economic forecasters. EURACTIV France reports.
A 1950 law discourages investments in Greece
An old-fashioned law of the Greek penal code dated back to 1950 prevents private actors from investing in projects where the public sector also has a share, thus blocking a potential investment boom the country badly needs.
Google appeals record EU fine over Android
Google on Tuesday (9 October) appealed the biggest ever anti-trust fine by the EU, which imposed a 4.34 billion euro penalty on the US tech giant for illegally abusing the dominance of its operating system for mobile devices.
After attacking Google, Vestager now turns to Amazon
The European Commission suspects the e-commerce giant of using the data it collects from third-party vendors on its marketplace to gain a commercial advantage. An article by our partner, La Tribune.
McDonald’s tax deal with Luxembourg ‘not illegal’, Commission says
The European Commission concluded on Wednesday (19 September) that Luxembourg’s tax deal with McDonald’s was not illegal state aid as it did not give the company an unfair advantage, but instead was due to the “mismatch” of US and Luxembourgish tax laws.
‘Circle of five’ carmakers under EU cartel investigation
On the third anniversary of Dieselgate, the European Commission announced on Tuesday (18 September) that its anti-competition team is looking into BMW, Daimler and the VW group for allegedly limiting the roll-out of technology meant to clean up car emissions.
Police raid offices of top French electrical firms in corruption probe
The offices of four of France’s largest electrical goods’ companies were raided by police on Thursday on suspicion of cartel pricing and corruption, a judicial source said.
Spanish, Belgian companies face charges of ethanol benchmark rigging
Spanish ethanol producer Abengoa and Belgium peer Alcogroup have been charged by European Union antitrust regulators with rigging ethanol benchmarks and are likely to face fines next year, two people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday (29 August).
Apple to gain unconditional EU approval for Shazam buy
Apple is set to win unconditional EU antitrust approval for its planned acquisition of British music discovery app Shazam, two people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday (22 August).