According to the Financial Times, European Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager will not be nominated for a third term.
Vestager’s decade as Europe’s top antitrust regulator has been marked by groundbreaking divisions and record fines for tech giants like Google, Apple and Amazon. Her enforcement of the Digital Markets Act in 2023 and antitrust rulings have earned her both praise and criticism.
The 56-year-old has seen Google hit with antitrust fines totalling €8.25 billion and earned the nickname EU’s “tax lady” from former US President Donald Trump. A €4 billion fine in 2018 for forcing Android device makers to pre-install Google’s search engine and Chrome was the largest in EU antitrust history.
In her first two terms, Vestager also clashed with Meta, Qualcomm, Alstom and Siemens — the latter two for blocking their merger. Qualcomm was fined €997 million for abusing its dominant market position in baseband chipsets.
In 2016, she ordered Apple to pay Ireland 14.3 billion euros after finding the company had received illegal tax benefits for more than a decade, but that ruling was overturned by the General Court of the European Union in 2020. Chief Executive Tim Cook called the fine “total political nonsense”.
But when the DMA appointed seven “gatekeeper” organizations, it forced the big players to make real changes. For example, in March, Google removed some search widgets, like Google Flights, to allow more access to individual companies in response to the DMA ruling.
It also added new settings to choose how data is shared between different Google services, as well as so-called “choice screens” for Android and Chrome to encourage users to choose their preferred search engine or browser.
While Vestager gained popularity for her tough stance on antitrust issues, her popularity has recently waned following a series of legal challenges to her rulings, including TikTok parent ByteDance objecting to her designation as a gatekeeper.
She lost support in Brussels when French President Emmanuel Macron blocked her candidacy to head the European Investment Bank. An MP from his Renaissance party told Politico directly: “No Vestager!” Moreover, in 2022, her Social Liberal party lost its place in Denmark’s coalition government.
Vestager’s successor as EU competition commissioner will be nominated by the ruling Social Democratic Party in the autumn, the FT reports. It is expected to be one of three men: Belgian Commissioner Didier Reynders, Dutch Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra or French Commissioner Thierry Breton.
Notable DMA rulings under Vestager
On June 24, Apple became the first technology giant to be formally accused by the European Commission of violating the Digital Market Act.
The Commission found that Apple has three sets of business rules that ultimately prevent iOS app developers from directing their users to third-party purchase options. This contradicts the DMA, which states that developers should be able to direct their customers to purchase options outside the App Store easily and free of charge.
Then, on July 1, the commission ruled that the second organization, Meta, had failed to comply with the DMA. Its “pay or opt-in” advertising model, in which users who subscribe to Instagram or Facebook can opt out of targeted ads, does not provide a service equivalent to paid ads if users choose to subscribe. It also does not allow “users to exercise their right to freely consent to the combination of their personal data.”
Investigations into these rulings began in late March.
Alphabet also came under scrutiny at the time for the way it presented Google search results, as they could direct customers back to Google services like Shopping, Flights or Hotels. Google temporarily removed its Flights unit from search results after the DMA went into effect in early March.
Apple took a series of steps in January to comply with the DMA, including changing the payment system for app sellers in the EU and removing the control that the App Store has over the distribution of iOS apps in the EU. It also began urging iOS users in the EU to choose their preferred browser over the default Safari. However, in March it was fined €1.84 billion for imposing anti-steering rules on music streaming apps.
