Germany urges Vestager to consider company breakups in EU antitrust reforms

FILE PHOTO: European Commission Vice President Margrethe Vestager looks on during an interview with Reuters in Brussels, Belgium, March 28, 2022. REUTERS/Johanna Geron

BERLIN (Reuters) - EU antitrust rules should be beefed up to allow regulators to break up companies for serious breaches, German State Secretary Sven Giegold said on Wednesday, urging EU competition chief Margrethe Vestager to consider this when reforming regulations.

Rules known as Regulation 1/2003, in force since 2004, have allowed Vestager to go after Alphabet unit Google, Apple, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft and Intel, and impose billions of euros in fines.