In a somewhat ironic twist, the U.S. government has now seen fit to object to the politicization of the EU’s antitrust case against Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG). The obvious hypocrisy of a U.S. government agency objecting to the established political process of another national government entity was apparently not a concern to the self-important government bureaucrats who drafted the message.
The U.S. Mission to the European Union sent an email to several parties on Monday, saying it “noted with concern” impending legislation in the European Parliament that encouraged EU competition regulators to consider forcing Google to split off its search engine division from other Internet services. The message went on to say that politicians should not influence EU regulator’s ongoing antitrust inquiry.
The email was obviously entirely for U.S. public consumption, as EU leaders almost certainly laughed at or ignored the hypocritical, clearly political meddling of the U.S. mission.
Statement from the U.S. Mission to the European Union
The statement from the USMEU noted: “It is important that the process of identifying competitive harms and potential remedies be based on objective and impartial findings and not be politicized.”
Ongoing European Commission investigation of Google
The European Commission has been investigating Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG) for monopoly and competitive concerns for more than four years now. The investigation began following a series of complaints by rivals who continue to complain about Google’s self-serving search engine practices.
Of note, the message from the U.S. Mission comes less than a week after European Parliament members Andreas Schwab and Ramon Tremosa unveiled a draft of a resolution noting that separating the search engine division from other commercial services would help guarantee a level playing field for all European businesses.
The Euro parliament does not have the legal authority to break up Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG), but passing the resolution would certainly ratchet up the public pressure on the EU’s antitrust regulators to come to make a decision that would benefit the larger business community and the general public.
