By Sam Schechner
Some European legislators, backed by members the German
government, are preparing a draft resolution calling for the
breakup of Google Inc.--a political salvo that could add to
pressure on the European Union's newly appointed executive arm to
crack down on the Internet giant.
According to a proposal headed for EU parliamentary debate next
week, legislators from countries including Germany and Spain would
call for the EU to consider ways to "unbundle" Internet search
engines from "other commercial services" the websites may offer,
according to a copy of the resolution viewed by The Wall Street
Journal.
While the text of the resolution doesn't specifically mention
Google, it takes direct aim at the U.S. technology company by
calling on the European Commission--which for four years has been
investigating allegations that Google abuses its dominance of the
European search market--to "enforce EU competition rules
decisively."
"Too-dominant market positions have never been good for the
market," said Andreas Schwab, a German member of Europe's
parliament who helped draft the proposal. "We're just pointing out
that there are tools the commission can use." Mr. Schwab is also a
member of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's CDU party.
A Google spokeswoman declined to comment.
Europe's parliament, whose members can draft Europe-wide
measures but whose power is circumscribed by national legislatures,
has no direct power to force such a breakup. It is also unclear
what legislators envision as an unbundling of Google, which derives
most of its revenue from advertising on its search engine, but also
has its Android operating system, its YouTube video site, email and
other distinct ventures.
Still, the call for a breakup of Google comes at an important
moment because the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, has
just begun a new term. The bloc's new competition chief, Margrethe
Vestager, said last week that she would take her time to
investigate the pending case against Google before deciding on the
next steps, saying the issues were "multifaceted and complex."
Four German ministers, including Economy Minister Sigmar
Gabriel, have sent a letter to Brussels to back the idea behind the
breakup resolution, a German government spokeswoman said.
The European parliamentary resolution and the ministers' letter
ramp up political rhetoric surrounding Google, which is already
under assault for its tax and privacy practices, and has had
several proposed settlements of the antitrust probe into its search
business fall apart over the last four years.
In recent months, politicians in Germany and France have called
on the EU to take a harder line on Google, backed in large part by
German publishers but including as well those fearful of Google's
expansion into new areas like self-driving cars.
"There's been a lot of politicalization of this in Europe, but
this is even more extreme than I could have imagined," said Dan
O'Connor, vice president of public policy at the U.S.-based
Computer & Communications Industry Association, which is funded
by and lobbies on behalf of large tech companies including
Google.
Backers of the proposal say their goal is to put pressure on Ms.
Vestager, the new EU competition chief.
"Enterprises are losing jobs. We have no time to lose. It's our
obligation to put pressure on the commission to act quickly," said
Ramon Tremosa i Balcells, a Spanish member of the European
parliament who helped draft the proposal.
A spokesman for Ms. Vestager declined to comment beyond her
remarks last week.
It remains unclear what a breakup of Google would actually look
like. Apart from its search services, Google also offers dozens of
commercial services, including the Android operating system that
powers the majority of the world's mobile devices and its YouTube
video service. But many of its most popular services are closely
intertwined with its search engine, including Google Maps.
Meantime, advertising revenue--primarily from its search
engine--still generates the lion's share of the company's sales.
Google reported advertising revenue on its own websites of $11.3
billion in the third quarter, 70% of the company's total.
Rolfe Winkler, Tom Fairless and Harriet Torry contributed to
this article.
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