About: Joaquín Almunia Archives

Manchester City Football Club is considering challenging a record-breaking €60 million fine for breaching UEFA’s Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules by using EU competition law to prevent cartels and abuse of market dominance.

The European Commission Tuesday (29 April) used antitrust rules to prevent telecoms companies using court orders for patent infringements on industry standard technology to restrict competition.

European lawmakers on Thursday (17 April) eased the way for cartel victims to claim compensation from companies under new rules that also shield price-fixing whistleblowers from being the main target of million-euro lawsuits.

Renewable energy subsidies that helped spur Europe’s €48-billion-a-year clean energy industry are to be phased out across the continent, under new market-friendly state aid rules announced by the European Commission Wednesday (9 April).

SPECIAL REPORT / The European Commission is stepping up its efforts to inform and protect consumers when they shop online, in a bid to boost e-commerce.

EXCLUSIVE / Big energy-guzzling companies will get a handout of up to €2 billion under proposed new state aid rules due to be finalised by the European Commission by 9 April, according to an analysis by the Öko Institute, which EURACTIV has seen.

The EU’s main consumer organisation joined the antitrust case against Google on Monday (March 31), accusing the tech giant of misleading users with biased search results.

The revenues generated by EU remedies proposed in the antitrust case against Google will be shared with competitors, and will not generate further income for the US search giant, the European Commission promised.

Despite heavy pressure, EU competition commissioner Joaquín Almunia is showing no sign of bending in the case against the US search giant, internal documents show.

Europe's leading mobile telecoms operators renewed their calls for a reform of EU rules which should favour mergers in the fragmented market, but their appeal may fall on deaf ears.  

As the European Commission’s investigation on Google enters its final phase, the US internet search giant remains under close scrutiny from Brussels over a range of other issues, EURACTIV France reports.

The tone between the French industry minister, Arnaud Montebourg, and the EU's competition commissioner, Joaquín Almunia, is becoming increasingly heated, as the pair exchanged inflammatory letters last week, EURACTIV.fr reports.

The European Commission tabled proposals yesterday (24 July) aimed at reducing the cost of using payment cards for consumers, setting new fee limits at 0.2% and 0.3% of the transaction value for debit cards and credit cards respectively.

EU antitrust regulators blocked Ryanair's third attempt to acquire Irish rival Aer Lingus on Wednesday (27 February), a ruling Europe's biggest low-cost airline called politically motivated and vowed to challenge in court.

Europe's top telecommunication companies are discussing the creation of a pan-European infrastructure network to unite the region's disjointed national markets, according to a newspaper report on Wednesday (9 January).

European Union antitrust regulators accused Microsoft on Wednesday (24 October) of breaching a 2009 order to offer a choice of web browsers to consumers on its Windows 7 operating system, the first step in a procedure that could lead to a hefty fine.

Joaquín Almunia, the EU's Competition Commissioner, has laid down an ultimatum for US search giant Google to meet competition concerns as both sides signalled a desire to avoid a repeat of tech giant Microsoft’s mammoth legal dispute with the EU executive.

Apple and four international publishers have sent proposals to the European Commission to try to solve an e-books anti-trust case, a Commission statement said yesterday (11 April).

European regions and cities will no longer face EU state aid scrutiny when subsidising small-scale public services such as swimming pools and crèches, according to new rules being drawn up in Brussels.

Declining reliance on emergency funding from governments signals a gradual return to normal market conditions in the banking sector, according to the European Commission's latest state aid scoreboard.

The European Commission announced yesterday (26 April) that it had reached an agreement with global card payment company Visa to reduce fees on its debit cards by 0.2%. Retailers, meanwhile, protested that the company's concession was too small.

The European Commission unveiled revised antitrust rules on Tuesday (19 April) allowing luxury brand owners to block online retailers without a bricks-and-mortar shop from distributing their products.

Amazon, eBay and other online retailers have asked the European Commission to reconsider draft rules which they claim would allow manufacturers in the 27-member bloc to prevent their products from being sold online.