EU Antitrust Chief Decries Political Pressure in Google Case

Joaquín Almunia -- who is preparing to step down as the European Union’s competition commissioner in a few weeks -- criticized what he called the “defensive” and “irrational” response by European politicians to his investigation of Google, and said separately that his department may launch more probes into alleged sweetheart tax deals for multinational companies. He said the political pressure that preceded his decision to reopen the four-year-old Google case for a fourth time was unprecedented. The commission has rejected three settlement offers by Google. He said the response partly reflect fears that Europe’s high-tech companies have fallen behind their US rivals.