It was Wednesday, April 15th when the European Commission announced to have sent a statement of objections to Google for allegedly abusing its market position, cheating on consumers and competitors by distorting Web search results to favour its own shopping service. Moreover, the European Commission has also formally started another antitrust investigation, concerning the mobile operating system Android, “investigating on whether Google has breached the EU antitrust rules by hindering the development and market access of rival mobile operating systems, applications and services to the detriment of consumers and developers of innovative services and products”.
“No competition without transparency”, can be reassumed as the essence of the Messerschmidt Report on EU Competition Policy, adopted by the European Parliament, Tuesday March 10th that led the EU’s investigation into Google to a turning point. Indeed when approved, the European Parliament expressed regret that after four years of investigation the Commission has not shown any demonstrable results in the case itself or the allegations of the preferential treatment of its own services in displaying results of search queries, stating that “in order to be credible in the digital agenda, the Google case urges to be solved”.
“I’m not pointing the finger against Google itself but against the fact that negotiations are lasting too long. It’s four years since the Commission has taken initiative after initiative but nothing’s relay going on. I’m not seeking to put Google in the dock, but we have seen several initiatives and four years passed and we have to resolve this case. The credibility of the Commission’s digital agenda is on the line, if it fails to ensure that competition infringements in fast-moving and dynamic digital markets are tackled swiftly” so Mr. Messerschmidt about his report.
Margrethe Vestager EU Commissioner in charge of competition policy who took over this politically charged case in November, following nearly five years of investigation by former Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia, outlined the situation in the following way: “In the case of Google I am concerned that the company has given an unfair advantage to its own comparison shopping service in breach of EU antitrust rules.” Given the outlined situation, the Mountain View, California based company will have ten weeks of time in order to advocate their case, having “the opportunity to convince the Commission to the contrary. However, if the investigation confirms our concerns, Google would have to face the legal consequences and change the way it does business in Europe”.
Replying to the critics, accusing the EU of taking a protectionist stance against the US tech industry: “In all of our cases (concerning competition policy), the nationality of the enterprises involved is, and will remain, indifferent to us. Our mission is to make sure that every company operating within the EU, does it respecting our policies”. The fact that many of the firms that have complained to Brussels in order to challenge Google’s business practices in Europe are themselves US companies, should also be seen as an important signal.
On the newly opened Android investigation instead: “I have also launched a formal antirust investigation of Goggle’s conduct concerning mobile operating systems, apps and services. Smartphones, tablets and similar devices play an increasing role in many people’s daily lives and I want to make sure the markets in this area can flourish without anticompetitive constraints imposed by any company,” so Ms. Vestager.
Sanctions:
Concerning issues of European Competition Policy, it’s the European Commission who has the major say with the power to apply sanctions up to 10% of the company’s annual sales. In this case, concerning the Google issue, if the American tech giant will be judged guilty, the European Commission will have the power to apply a fine up to 6.2 billion euros.
Moreover if the Commission finds that companies are abusing a dominant market position, the EU regulator can also demand wide-ranging changes in the way a Company does its business in Europe
When asked if really ready to fine a tech giant such as Google, Ms. Vestager explained that “it is very important that every road is open- first when it comes to commitments but also when it comes to the other road, at the end of which is a fine.”
Reactions:
In its first reaction, the American tech giant stated that it strongly disagreed with the EU’s statement of objections, emphasizing the fact that, on their opinion, during the last years its products have fostered competition, benefitting consumers as well. “While Google may be the most used search engine, people can now find and access information in numerous different ways—and allegations of harm, for consumers and competitors, have proved to be wide of the mark”.
“Our free operating system for mobile devices has been a key player in spurring competition and choice, lowering prices and increasing choice for everyone (there are over 18,000 different devices available today)” so the Mountain View, California based company concerning the Android issue.
Ramon Tremosa i Balcells (ALDE), very active on this dossier since the beginning stressed the fact that during the last years many European S&M enterprises went bankrupt causing damage to European consumers. From a Single Digital Market perspective, the aim of Competition Policy should be to “establish an open market that contains and warrants the same opportunities for everyone”. “The Google issue is not a question of taxation, we need to assure a level playing field in the European market, assuring companies to equally compete in the market, and avoid Google to monopolize the market in the next years.”
Morten Messerschmidt MEP, author of the European Parliament’s recent annual Competition report, said: “Finally we are seeing some life in the Commission’s Competition directorate. Despite four years of investigations we have seen few clear results or actions by the Commission to allow all digital businesses to operate on a level playing field. The Commission has now showed its teeth, and it must now work swiftly with Google to resolve this case and create an open and fair Internet search marketplace.”
Monique Goyens, general manager of BEUC, an associate member of the International Consumers Organisation aiming at representing and defending the interests of all Europe’s consumers at the European level, stressed the importance of Google treating all the online services, including their own and not just Google Shopping, following the same standards and practices, without discrimination to put it simple.
“Even Uncle Google must play fair”, German lawmaker Manfred Weber, floor leader of the largest conservative group, said: « Internet is not the Wild West – there are rules on the web that must also be respected. »
Patrick Zingerle
To know more:
-. EU-LOGOS, “COMPETITION POLICY: ‘IN ORDER TO BE CREDIBLE IN THE DIGITAL AGENDA, THE GOOGLE CASE NEEDS TO BE SOLVED’.”http://europe-liberte-securite-justice.org/2015/03/17/competition-policy-in-order-to-be-credible-in-the-digital-agenda-the-google-case-needs-to-be-solved/
-. Dossier GOOGLE des articles de Nea Say http://www.eu-logos.org/eu-logos_nea-say.php?idr=4&idnl=3500&nea=156&lang=fra&arch=0&term=0
Défiant tous les sondages, David Cameron a été réélu en obtenant la majorité absolue à la Chambre des communes, avec 331 sièges. Comment comprendre cette victoire ?
C’est en effet un scénario que personne n’attendait. David Cameron semble avoir gagné cette élection essentiellement sur le terrain de l’économie, qu’il a réussi à faire repartir et qui a finalement pesé plus lourd que l’effet de l’austérité sur le pays. Au-delà de la personnalité de David Cameron elle-même, qui ne suscite pas toujours une adhésion débordante, les Britanniques ont vu un dirigeant fort, crédible économiquement, et qui n’a pas hésité à prendre les décisions qui s’imposaient. Cependant, l’analyse des résultats de cette élection ne fait que commencer, notamment pour les travaillistes qui vont devoir engager une vraie réflexion, eux qui n’ont pas gagné d’élections sans Tony Blair depuis 1974. Peuvent-ils gagner une élection sans mordre sur le centre, dans un pays modéré, qui penche au centre droit ? Des interrogations se posent aussi pour les instituts de sondages, qui ont du mal à lire le vote conservateur. Ce cas de figure s’est déjà produit plusieurs fois par le passé, notamment en 1992 où l’écart entre les estimations et le vote conservateur avait été de presque 10%. Jusqu’à la veille de l’élection, un gouvernement de coalition mené par les travaillistes semblait encore le scenario le plus probable.
David Cameron, pendant sa campagne, a promis à ses électeurs la tenue d’un référendum sur le maintien ou non du Royaume Uni au sein de l’Union européenne (UE). Il souhaite négocier avec Bruxelles une réforme du fonctionnement de l’Union. Quelle est-elle ? Selon vous, y a-t-il un risque sérieux de voir le Royaume-Uni quitter l’UE ?
La sortie du Royaume-Uni au sein de l’Union européenne aurait paru entièrement inconcevable il y a de cela quatre ans, rappelons-le tout de même. Le 23 janvier 2013, David Cameron a promis un referendum sur le maintien ou non du Royaume-Uni au sein de l’Union européenne, décision qu’il a prise essentiellement pour des raisons de politique intérieure. Elle était destinée à tenter d’endiguer la montée du UKIP, qui se nourrit essentiellement de l’euroscepticisme et de l’aile droite de son parti. Le résultat de ces élections peut justifier cette décision « tactique », puisqu’en dépit d’avoir dicté un certain nombre des thèmes de la campagne, le UKIP se retrouve marginalisé et n’a remporté qu’un seul siège à la Chambre des Communes. Cameron a retrouvé une marge de manœuvre et pourra user de la légitimité que lui donnent ces résultats. Reste que sa majorité demeure très limitée, à l’instar de celle de John Major en 1992, qui lui avait éprouvé de grandes difficultés à sortir de l’ornière de l’euroscepticisme de son parti. Les libéraux démocrates, qui se sont effondrés, n’auront plus l’influence positive qu’ils avaient dans la coalition depuis 2010 sur les relations du Royaume-Uni avec l’UE, et Cameron éprouvera paradoxalement plus de difficultés dans ses relations avec l’aile droite de son parti.
De ce point de vue, il doit naviguer un paradoxe dans les négociations à venir : il devra donner suffisamment de gages de bonne volonté tant à l’aile droite de son parti qu’à ses partenaires européens. C’est un exercice des plus délicats. S’il veut arriver à quelque chose en Europe, il devra faire preuve de plus de doigté que ce dont il a fait preuve jusqu’à présent : être constructif, ne pas braquer, écouter et dialoguer sans trop en demander dès l’abord. Mais cela sera-t-il suffisant pour l’aile droite de son parti ? On serait tenté d’utiliser la formule récente de Yanis Varoufakis : “Red lines are inflexible but our red lines and their lines are such that there is common ground”…
Il n’obtiendra pas de concessions majeures, comme la restriction de la liberté de mouvement ou une modification significative des traités. Il n’y a aucun appétit pour ce faire en Europe, des élections se tenant en France et en Allemagne en 2017, sans parler du budget européen fixé jusqu’en 2019. Il pourra par contre obtenir des réformes plus limitées, sur les prestations sociales des nouveaux arrivants, par exemple, ou des garanties sur le marché unique. Jean-Claude Juncker s’est dit prêt à travailler avec le Royaume-Uni. Bien menées par les deux parties, ces négociations pourraient même se révéler pour l’Europe une chance et une occasion de réfléchir à son fonctionnement qu’elle doit rendre plus cohérent et moins bureaucratique.
Le Parti national écossais (SNP, indépendantiste) est le véritable outsider de ces élections obtenant un total de 56 sièges sur 59, alors qu’il n’en possédait que 6. Comment interpréter ce succès fulgurant du SNP ? Quelles conséquences peut avoir cette large victoire pour l’Écosse et son souhait d’indépendance ?
En effet, et Cameron se trouve face à un dilemme. Le SNP a tiré profit de sa campagne lors du référendum écossais de l’année passée, qui a enclenché une véritable lame de fond, que le parti a su organiser autour d’un débat de fond et d’un vrai projet de société. L’une des caractéristiques fortes de ce projet est un engagement plus profond et plus positif avec l’Union européenne. L’Ecosse est beaucoup plus progressiste et pro-européenne que le reste du Royaume-Uni. Si le Royaume-Uni sort de l’Union européenne, quid de l’Ecosse ? L’on pourrait se retrouver dans une situation où si Cameron veut défendre l’unité du Royaume-Uni, comme il professe de le faire, il devra faire campagne pour le maintien du Royaume-Uni dans l’Union. Mais le pourra-t-il ? S’il ne le peut pas, il est un scénario qui le verrait rester dans l’histoire comme le Premier ministre qui a démembré le Royaume, quitté l’Union et isolé l’Angleterre.
TIRANA, 12 May 2015 – Ending a two-day visit to Tirana, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović today stressed the need to use the current momentum for public service broadcaster reform in Albania. During the visit she also addressed media pluralism and media concentration, especially during the process of digitalization, independence of the broadcast regulator, journalists’ labour rights and Internet freedom.
“Like many other OSCE participating States, Albania would benefit from a higher degree of media independence,” Mijatović said. “Politicians and business owners should stop manipulating media and institutions such as AMA, and let journalists and professionals do their job professionally and independently for the benefit of the Albanian public.”
Mijatović emphasized the importance of strengthening the public service broadcaster and its independence.
“The newly established steering board should now use the positive developments by appointing a director and moving ahead with much needed structural reforms to strengthen the functioning and independence of the public service broadcaster,” Mijatović said.
In her meetings with senior government officials, the Representative also raised her concern about the proposal to delete the article 62 in the Law on Audio-visual media services regulating media concentration, and amendments to the civil code that would make website owners legally responsible for online comments.
“The proposal to amend the Audiovisual law could have a very long-term and negative effect on media pluralism, especially in the context of the forthcoming digital licensing process,” Mijatović said.
In her meetings with journalists and members of civil society, Mijatović discussed the implementation of the Law on Access to Information, and labour rights of journalists. She also noted the Union of Albanian Journalists’ recent report on social and economic issues faced by the journalists.
”Access to official information and ensuring their labour rights allow journalists to perform their duty as public watchdogs to ensure that authorities at all levels are accountable,” Mijatović said.
During her visit, Mijatović met with Foreign Minister Ditmir Bushati, Minister for Innovation and Public Administration, Milena Harito, Chair and Deputy Chair of the Media Committee, Genc Pollo and Alfred Peza, Chair and Deputy Chair of the broadcast media regulator AMA, Gentian Sala and Sami Neza, Chair of the board of public service broadcaster RTSH, Kristaq Traja, journalists and members of civil society.
Following an invitation by the Foreign Minister Bushati, Mijatović also spoke at a media freedom conference on 11 May in Tirana commemorating 20 years of Albania's membership in the Council of Europe.
The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media observes media developments in all 57 OSCE participating States. She provides early warning on violations of freedom of expression and media freedom and promotes full compliance with OSCE media freedom commitments. Learn more at www.osce.org/fom, Twitter: @OSCE_RFoM and on www.facebook.com/osce.rfom.
Related StoriesLa croissance économique et démographique de l'Afrique attire enfin les investisseurs. Surtout dans les transports et l'énergie, où les projets se multiplient. Reste le problème de leur gestion par les États.
Bosnie-Herzégovine : à Doboj, les inondations dévoilent des fosses communes
Bosnie : un nouveau charnier découvert dans le centre du pays
Bosnie-Herzégovine : la plus grande fosse commune jamais découverte mise à jour à Tomašica
Bosnie-Herzégovine : attaque contre un poste de police à Zvornik
Alors que la délinquance du quotidien constitue une source majeure d’inquiétude pour les Français, le discours politique reste encore trop souvent confiné dans des postures morales, qui ne répondent pas à une question aussi pragmatique qu’essentielle : comment être plus efficace ?
À cet égard, l’économie permet de porter un regard neuf et dépassionné sur l’activité des vols et des cambriolages, condition préalable pour renforcer l’effectivité de la lutte contre ces pratiques illicites.
Cet article Emmanuel Combe et Sébastien Daziano : Lutter contre les vols et cambriolages : une approche économique est apparu en premier sur Fondapol.
By Paul McLeary with Ariel Robinson
Adding it up. It’s now been just over nine months since a U.S.-led coalition began pounding the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq from the air. And in that time, the mission, which one Pentagon wag then dubbed “Operation: Dude, That’s My Humvee?” has hit 6,278 targets — including 288 U.S. Humvees the Islamic militants snatched from the Iraqi Army. The whole thing has cost Washington over $2.3 billion ($8.6 million a day) to keep the rocks bouncing, and there’s no end in sight.
First things. In Iraq, which the White House says is its first priority, the Islamic State still holds the cities of Mosul and Fallujah, and appears poised to take control of the Baiji oil refinery. The refinery and the city of Ramadi remain “highly contested” Defense Department spokesman Col. Steve Warren said Monday, and the fight could go either way.
Video of U.S. planes in action over Iraq. Those bombs just don’t appear out of nowhere. They’re dropped by American pilots flying aircraft in at times close proximity to Islamic State fighters, who are very happy to fire back. The group recently released a video of fighting in and around the Baiji refinery that showed U.S. attack aircraft taking sustained ground fire. (Start at the 3:35 mark.) In response to an email query about the ground fire, U.S. Air Force Capt. Andrew Caulk replied that “we don’t have a releasable number for surface-to-air fire (SAFIRE) events. While the ground fire in the video may seem severe, the picture looks very different from the air. Our pilots occasionally report ineffective small arms or anti-aircraft artillery fire.”
We’re coming! Soon-ish. In another sign that the Asia “rebalance” is still on despite the fact that the Middle East is burning, we found out Monday that American special operations forces are bringing some of their newest aircraft to Japan.
Just not until 2017.
Ten of the U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command’s (AFSOC) 50 CV-22 tiltrotor Osprey aircraft are headed for Yokota airfield near Tokyo. The Pentagon announcement comes on the heels of Japan’s plans to spend $3 billion to buy 17 of the speedy V–22 Osprey from the U.S.
While the U.S. Marine Corps already operates 24 Osprey from the Futenma base on Okinawa, the move expands the AFSOC footprint in the region, with the Air Force’s 353rd Special Operations Group having long operated out of Kadena Air base in Okinawa. But with U.S. operators based in South Korea and Okinawa, the deployment can be seen as effectively splitting the large geographic distance between the two, making quick relief of those special ops ground forces potentially pretty tough.
“This is another example of the challenge of SOF airlift (which really only exists to get ground SOF into and out of hostile areas) that is not collocated with the ground forces” it will support, emails David Maxwell, a retired U.S. Army Special Forces colonel who now teaches at Georgetown University. “But that is the nature also of being in theater and subject to host nation political constraints. I would rather have them in Yokota than not in theater at all.”
Always. Be. Closing. Today marks the kickoff of the increasingly contentious two-day Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) at Camp David, where President Barack Obama will host the leadership of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE to talk through security issues. Originally billed by the White House as a sitdown among heads of state, there’s been some backsliding on the original hype. Saudi King Salman has already pulled out of the meeting, sending his 29 year-old defense minister instead. And Bahrain’s king has also declined to attend, sending his defense chief. The Pentagon confirmed Monday that Defense Secretary Ash Carter will also attend, but a spokesman declined to say who else from the department might be there. FP’s John Hudson outlines some of the tensions, and the uncertainty, over what will actually be accomplished over the next two days.
Say it ain’t so. It looks like all sorts of defense officials are pushing back against Seymour Hersh’s inflammatory story in the London Review of Books on Monday claiming that just about everything you’ve been told about the U.S. SEAL raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan is a lie. FP’s Sean Naylor catalogs the outrage.
It’s Situation Report time! Tell the kids to go draw a picture or “play the quiet game” for a few minutes while you scroll through your phone with us, won’t you? Let us know what’s on your mind at paul.mcleary@foreignpolicy.com or on Twitter: @paulmcleary
Revolving door
“Porter Goss, a director of the CIA under the Bush administration, has been hired by Turkey’s government to lobby Congress on matters including counter-terrorism, energy-security, and stability in the the NATO-member’s region,” Bloomberg’s Isobel Finkel reports.
Yemen
Hostilities continue in Yemen, where Houthi rebels and Saudi-led coalition forces “traded heavy artillery and rocket fire in border areas,” a day before the proposed humanitarian cease-fire is to take effect on Tuesday, according to Al-Jazeera. Many are skeptical of the deal: a group of 17 international aid agencies say five days is not enough to provide adequate humanitarian assistance, and Yemen’s Foreign Minister Riyad Yassin said he believed the Houthis “had no desire for a ceasefire deal.”
Cyber
At a cybersecurity forum at George Washington University on Monday, chief of U.S. Cyber Command — and head of NSA — Adm. Michael Rogers said hackers (and other perpetrators of cyber attacks) will “pay the price,” for their actions. “What concerned me” Defense News quotes him as saying, “was, given the fact that this is a matter of public record, if we don’t publicly acknowledge it, if we don’t attribute it and if we don’t talk about what we’re going to do in response to the activity … I don’t want anyone watching thinking we have not tripped a red line.”
Israel
Israel will be buying four patrol boats from the marine division of Germany’s ThyssenKrupp to protect natural gas fields in the Mediterranean, The ticket price on the deal is approximately $480 million. ThyssenKrupp has also committed to around $181 million worth of reciprocal purchasing in Israel, AFP reports.
Georgia
About 200 U.S. Army troops from the 3rd Infantry Division and the 173rd Airborne Brigade (some of whom are also currently in western Ukraine) have kicked off a joint military exercise in Georgia with local forces after the U.S. shipped a company’s worth of heavily armored Bradley Fighting Vehicles across the Black Sea, Reuters reports. The purpose of the mission is to train a company of Georgian soldiers to be able to operate as part of NATO’s Response Force, a Pentagon official confirmed Monday.
Terrorism
It would appear that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi alive and well, according to reporting from The Daily Beast. He continues to lead the group, a Defense Department spokesman said Monday, adding, “the U.S. military has no reason to believe he was injured in a coalition airstrike.”
Fighting continues in Yemen today with just hours to go before the implementation of a five-day ceasefire between Saudi and Houthi forces. The ceasefire is set to begin at 11 PM local time and will allow the delivery of critical humanitarian aid. “It is unclear how much longer Yemen’s remaining hospitals have before the lights go out,” Human Rights Watch’s deputy Middle East director told the Washington Post, stressing the need for fuel for generators and water supply pumps. Yesterday, Saudi Arabia struck a large munitions stockpile near Sanaa, setting off a chain of secondary explosions. Today more strikes have targeted Houthi positions in Sanaa and Aden, and Saudi Arabia has massed ground forces along Yemen’s northern border. A U.S. airstrike, believed to have been launched by a drone, hit the presidential residence in al-Mukalla, which was seized by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula last month.
President Obama is expected to discuss the situation in Yemen with Gulf diplomats later this week at a summit at Camp David. Human Rights Watch has called on President Obama to press Gulf nations to implement reforms to allow more political dissent. Obama said in an interview last month that “the biggest threats that they face may not be coming from Iran invading. It’s going to be from dissatisfaction inside their own countries.” Those comments reportedly offended Gulf leaders and may have contributed to King Salman’s decision not to attend the summit in person.
European Union Presents Plan for Migrants to United Nations
The European Union’s top diplomat, Federica Mogherini, presented a plan to stem the tide of migrants fleeing to Europe from Libya at the U.N. Security Council yesterday. Mogherini clarified potential actions to dismantle smuggling operations, saying “No one is thinking of bombing. I’m talking about a naval operation.” EU nations on the U.N. Security Council are drafting a resolution to authorize the use of force. “The crucial thing for the European Union is destroying the business model of the trafficking and smuggling organizations, making sure that vessels cannot be used again,” she said. “They sell hope, but instead of hope they deliver death.”
Headlines
-J. Dana Stuster
MOHAMMED HUWAIS/AFP/Getty Images