Wednesday, 15 April 2015

Margrethe Vestager, the Danish Politician Who Accused Google of Antitrust ... - New York Times




Margrethe Vestager, then the Danish economy minister, and fellow ministers rode bicycles to meet with Queen Margrethe in Copenhagen in 2011. Linda Henriksen/European Pressphoto Agency



Margrethe Vestager, the European Union’s competition commissioner, announced on Wednesday that she was bringing formal antitrust charges against Google. A longtime Danish politician, she has brought an assertive approach to Europe’s competition ministry since taking over late last year. She also may be the only regulator in Brussels known for knitting elephants.


Here is a look at the woman at the center of the ambitious antitrust case.


Who is she?


Ms. Vestager, 47, began her career as a civil servant, and has also served as a member of the Danish Parliament and in a number of government posts, including education minister, economy minister and deputy prime minister. She is known for a no-nonsense demeanor and has taken some tough stances, which included supporting cost cuts that trimmed early retirement and other benefits for Danes. She has an economics degree from the University of Copenhagen and three daughters. Her husband is a high-school level math teacher.


Who she is not




Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, left, and Ms. Vestager in 2013. Splash News/Corbis



Helle Thorning-Schmidt. The two most prominent Danish politicians on the world stage at the moment happen to be women. Ms. Thorning-Schmidt is the prime minister and leads the Social Democratic Party. Ms. Vestager, who previously served as Ms. Thorning-Schmidt’s deputy prime minister, leads the Social Liberal Party. The two center-left parties are partners in Denmark’s coalition government.


What did she just do?


Jump-started an antitrust case against Google that has been inching along for five years. Her predecessor, Joaquín Almunia, tried and failed to reach a settlement three times with Google. Ms. Vestager has taken a more aggressive approach and has appeared not to have much appetite for a fourth round of settlement talks.


She once said that the “amount of data controlled by Google gives rise to a series of societal challenges.” But she also uses Google like just about everyone else. “My kids or myself never consider for a minute that this is a U.S. company or a European company; the reason why we use it is that Google has very good products,” she said in a news conference on Wednesday.


She has accused Google of using its dominance as a search engine to “artificially” skew results that favor its own shopping service, to the detriment of rivals. “Dominant companies have a responsibility not to abuse their powerful market position by restricting competition either in the market where they are dominant or in neighboring markets.”


She also announced that investigations would continue in other areas, including accusations that Google improperly uses its rivals’ content and locks out advertising competition with exclusivity deals. And she opened a formal investigation related to the company’s Android operating system for cellphones.


Bid on her elephant?




An elephant knit by Ms. Vestager. Christina Holm-Eiberg


Ms. Vestager is known for knitting, particularly elephants, in staff meetings. When she took her job in Brussels last year, she left her successor as Danish economy minister a hand-knit elephant, and this message: “I have knitted a friend for you. It’s an elephant. Elephants are social, insightful animals. They live in communities — and I have to say it — they live in matriarchal societies. They bear no grudge, but they remember well.”


This week, she is traveling to Washington to participate in a conference hosted by the American Bar Association. Then, on Sunday, she will be speaking at the Danish Seamen’s Church in Brooklyn, and she is offering an elephant she knitted to benefit the church. The opening bid is $ 200. Let the bidding begin, tech lobbyists.


The ‘Borgen’ connection




A scene from “Borgen,” which has been described as Denmark’s answer to “The West Wing.” Mike Kollöffel, Courtesy of DR TV


One of Ms. Vestager’s claims to fame is that she is said to be among the inspirations behind “Borgen,” a critically acclaimed TV show that has been described as Denmark’s answer to “The West Wing.” The show featured a female prime minister and had its premiere months before Ms. Thorning-Schmidt came to power. The lead actress “followed me around for a day when I was minister of economy, to see how it works,” Ms. Vestager told a group of journalists last year, according to EU Observer. Borgen, by the way, means “castle” in Danish and is the term used for the building that houses the Danish Parliament and the prime minister’s office. A New York Times critic once wrote of the program: “It is remarkable how much suspense and psychological drama the show squeezes out of cabinet shuffles and health care reform bills.”


Things she’s said on Twitter


”Her er vi alle sammen … SÃ¥ banneret pÃ¥ Twitter lørdag, troede ikke mine egne øjne. Der før jeg nu :)” Got that? She
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Margrethe Vestager, the Danish Politician Who Accused Google of Antitrust ... - New York Times
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