Margrethe Vestager, the EU’s head of competition and digital policy, has urged the European Parliament and the European Council to pass rules to limit the power of Big Tech as a matter of urgency. even if they’re not perfect.
Talk about it first FT-ETNO Political and Technological Forum On Monday, Vestager said: “It’s important for people to realize that it’s best to get to 80% now than 100% never. This is another way of saying that perfection shouldn’t be the enemy of the very, the very good.”
Vestager’s call comes after nearly a year of discussions between EU regulators and legislatures, who have struggled to agree on the fine print of the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and The Digital Services Act (DSA). The DMA was created to force so-called gatekeepers, such as Google, to guarantee more equal terms on their online platforms, while the DSA seeks to clarify how companies go online should keep illegal content off their platforms.
Vestager left the door open for lawmakers to consider the new rules once they are enacted, meaning they will be put before the EU Parliament and Council again.
“We will not let another 20 years pass before we can visit again [the legislation]. With the status of parliament and the council, we can come up with a very strong rule book that can be enforced very soon,” Vestager said. “We have a lot of companies waiting and asking for a level playing field.”
The latest draft of the DMA was approved by MEPs in the European Parliament’s Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee (IMCO) on November 22, ahead of a December plenary vote.
The DMA will affect companies with a market capitalization of at least 80 billion euros – including Google, Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Microsoft – and prohibit Big Tech from ranking its own services above those of rivals. surname.
The DSA has yet to be put to a vote before the IMCO; however draft proposals for it and the DMA were supported by the European Council on 25 November.
The final step of the DMA and DSA involves tripartite discussion between the Commission, Parliament and Council to agree on a common position before they become law.
On Monday, a letter signed by executives from 12 of Europe’s biggest telecommunications companies, including Deutsche Telekom, Telefónica and Vodafone, will call for “concrete and immediate action” from legislators on these technology rules.
Vestager said Brussels’ legislation would want to show “all these businesses that democracy serves them and allows them to access markets”.
