Leading Ministry of Environmental Protection said the EU should pay attention to the top 5 technology companies

EU lawmakers, who will guide the regulation of the EU’s flagship technology through the European Parliament, say that the focus should be on the five largest technology companies in the United States.

After both France and Germany called on the EU to take a tougher stance on large technology companies, Andreas Schwab, a member of the German European Parliament and a long-time critic of Google, delivered a speech. He stated that Google, Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Microsoft are the “biggest problem” of EU competition policy.

“Let us focus on the biggest problem first, the biggest bottleneck. Let us go down this line-one, two, three, four, five-and maybe six Alibaba,” he told the Financial Times. “Say.

“But let’s not include a European janitor starting on the 7th, just to please [US president Joe] Biden,” he added.

The European Union defines a “gatekeeper” company as a company that spans multiple countries, has a significant impact on the market, and connects a large number of users with a large number of companies.

As the EU focuses on rebuilding transatlantic relations, his position may be seen as anti-American.

Schwab is also part of the EPP, a powerful political alliance whose members include German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Commission President Ursula von der Lein.

In December last year, Brussels announced its plan to deal with the market forces of large technology companies.New regulations outline revenue and market share thresholds Define up to 20 companies As a “gatekeeper”, this includes companies headquartered in the European Union, such as Booking.com.

However, in a new report scheduled to be released on Monday, Schwab called for an increase in the market value threshold of 100 billion euros, instead of the 65 billion euros in the original proposal and the 10 billion euros in turnover for the past three fiscal years. Not Euro 6.5 billion.

He also defined a gatekeeper as a company that provides “two or more core platform services”, which means that platforms that mainly provide one type of service like Booking are not within the scope.

“range [Digital Markets Act] It should be clearly targeted at companies that play an unquestionable gatekeeper role due to their size and impact on the internal market,” the report said.

In addition, Schwab said that large online platforms should be forced to more transparently explain how they make money through online advertising. He said the business model is a “big black hole” and added that transparency is the key to promoting competition on the African continent.

Although his report is not binding, it is widely anticipated in Brussels because it is seen as setting the tone for months of intense debate on the Digital Market Act.

Last week, France, Germany and the Netherlands Call on the European Commission Enact stricter rules for large technology companies to prevent them from acquiring smaller companies to stifle competition.

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