Margrethe Vestager
 Margrethe Vestager       ( politician, deep state functionary?) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | 13 April 1968 Glostrup, Denmark | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality | Danish | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alma mater | University of Copenhagen | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Children | 3 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spouse | Thomas Jensen | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Member of | European Council on Foreign Relations, Trilateral Commission | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Party | Danish Social Liberal Party | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish Bilderberger appointed Executive Vice President of the European Commission for A Europe Fit for the Digital Age in December 2019
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Margrethe Vestager is a Danish politician currently who attended the 2004 Bilderberg meeting before becoming European Commissioner for Competition and Executive Vice President of the European Commission for A Europe Fit for the Digital Age. She is a member of the Trilateral Commission.
As Commissioner for Competition, she attempted to insert a US Big Tech lobbyist as chief economist, [1] casting doubt on the reality of her "trustbuster" image. As Digital Commissoner, she introduced a digital ID a scheme to access (or deny access to) public services or store (and easily cancel) documents.[2]
Contents
Education
Vestager was born in Glostrup, Zealand, a daughter of Lutheran ministers Hans Vestager and Bodil Tybjerg.[3] She studied at the University of Copenhagen, graduating in 1993 with a degree in Economics.[4]
National Politics
Vestager has been a professional politician since the age of 21, when she was appointed to the central board and executive committee of the Danish Social Liberal Party (SLP) and its European Affairs Committee, and shortly afterwards as National Chairwoman of the Party. In 2001, Vestager was elected to the Danish Parliament.
From 2011 until 2014 Vestager was Minister for Economic and Interior Affairs in the three-party Social Democrat-led |coalition government of Helle Thorning-Schmidt. Having forced through deep cuts in unemployment benefits of Denmark's social welfare system,[5] she was at one point considered by Danish media and pollsters as the most powerful person in government, even above Thorning-Schmidt.[6]
In 2013, Vestager held that "[in] our experience it’s impossible to pursue Danish interests without being close to the core of Europe. You don’t have influence or produce results if you’re standing on the sideline."[7]
In 2018, Paul Kirby described her as "a star in Danish politics" writing for the BBC.[8]
European Commissioner
On 31 August 2014, Prime Minister Thorning-Schmidt nominated Vestager as Denmark's EU Commissioner in the Juncker Commission.[9] On 3 October 2014, she won the European Parliament's backing following her confirmation hearing.[10][11]
In her confirmation hearings, Vestager said she favored settlement of cases before they come to a final executive judgment, for reduced fines or negotiated concessions from the companies.[12]
She brought antitrust charges against Google; Almunia had initially opened the investigation into Google in 2010, and had reached a settlement deal with Google by 2014 but was unable to convince the European Commission to accept it before his term ended. Vestager inherited Almunia's case but has shown greater desire to continue pursuing Google/Alphabet over the alleged antitrust violations.[4] Also, she initiated investigations into the tax affairs of Fiat, Starbucks, Amazon.com and Apple Inc. under competition rules.[13]
In 2014 - during the New Cold War against Russia - she launched proceedings against Gazprom, one of Europe's main gas suppliers, over allegations of breaching EU antitrust rules by putting in place artificial barriers to trade with eight European countries: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Bulgaria.[14]
In February 2019, Vestager blocked a merger between the two large European rail companies Siemens and Alstom due to serious competition concerns, despite the fact that both the German and French governments had supported the merger.[15]
Following the 2019 European Parliament election, Vestager was proposed as President of the European Commission
In August 2016, Vestager announced Apple Inc. received illegal tax benefits from Ireland. The Commission ordered Apple to pay a fine of €13 billion, plus interest, in unpaid Irish taxes for 2004–2014;[16] the largest tax fine in history.[17]
In July 2017, a fine of $2.7 billion against Alphabet (formerly Google) was levied based on the European Commission claim that Google breached antitrust rules. This fine was later appealed.[18]
In October 2017, Vestager ordered Amazon to pay €250 million of back taxes,[19].
In July 2018, she fined Alphabet (Google) €4.3 billion for entrenching its dominance in internet search by illegally tying together their service and other mobile apps with Android. On 22 January 2019 she fined Mastercard €570 million for preventing European retailers from shopping around for better payment terms.[20]
In March 2019, Vestager ordered Google to pay a fine €1.49 billion for abusive practices in online advertising.[21][22]
Vestager's actions against American companies as competition commissioner received criticism from US President Donald Trump (who also dubbed her as the EU's "Tax Lady"),[23] stating "She hates the United States, perhaps worse than any person I’ve ever met."[24]
Fiona Scott Morton
She attempted to insert an American economist, Fiona Scott Morton, as the new chief economist of the EU's Competition Directorate, an appointment that was supposed to take effect on September 1, 2023.[25] A "senior official" was quoted as calling Morton "the best of the 11 candidates."[26] Morton also had the support of Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission.[27] The job would control the activities and degree of market dominance of US multinational corporations in the EU.
The inserting of Morton was withdrawn, because of opposition from French ministers and some parts of the European Parliament, citing Morton's extensive consulting work for Big Tech firms, [28] including Apple, Amazon, Sanofi, Pfizer and Microsoft.[29]
Events Participated in
| Event | Start | End | Location(s) | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bilderberg/2014 | 29 May 2014 | 1 June 2014 | Denmark Copenhagen Marriott Hotel | The 62nd Bilderberg, with 136 guests, held in Copenhagen |
| Bratislava Global Security Forum/2022 | "Building Resilience in a Divided World" | |||
| Munich Security Conference/2024 | 16 February 2024 | 18 February 2024 | Germany Munich Bavaria | Annual conference of mid-level functionaries from the military-industrial complex - politicians, propagandists and lobbyists - in their own bubble, far from the concerns of their subjects |
References
- ↑ https://ec.europa.eu/commission/commissioners/2019-2024/vestager_en}
- ↑ https://www.dw.com/en/eu-unveils-plan-for-new-digital-id-wallet/a-57769145
- ↑ https://www.economist.com/news/business/21728979-she-rich-worlds-most-powerful-trustbuster-margrethe-vestager-championing-consumers-or
- ↑ Jump up to: a b http://www.natlawreview.com/article/new-eu-competition-commissioner-margrethe-vestager
- ↑ Mette Fraende and Erik Matzen (December 13, 2012), Denmark sees painful recovery as economy stalls Reuters.
- ↑ Foo Yun Chee and Julia Fioretti (September 10, 2014), Danish reformer gets EU antitrust stick; German to police the Internet Reuters.
- ↑ Peter Levring (January 23, 2013), U.K. Must ‘Walk Path Alone’ on EU Vote, Denmark Says Bloomberg Business.
- ↑ https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32410052
- ↑ https://www.dr.dk/Nyheder/Politik/2014/08/31/003912.htm
- ↑ Robin Emmott (October 3, 2014), Denmark's Vestager wins backing as new EU antitrust head Reuters.
- ↑ Paul Taylor (October 5, 2014), Juncker's team likely to survive EU power struggle Reuters.
- ↑ Foo Yun Chee and Alastair Macdonald (September 23, 2014), New EU antitrust head not swayed by anti-Americanism, bullies Reuters.
- ↑ https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/16/business/international/margrethe-vestager-the-danish-politician-who-brought-antitrust-charges-against-google.html
- ↑ http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_STATEMENT-15-4834_en.htm
- ↑ https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/06/eu-blocks-plan-for-alstom-siemens-rail-merger.html
- ↑ http://ec.europa.eu/competition/state_aid/cases/253200/253200_1851004_674_2.pdf#page=24
- ↑ https://time.com/4472500/apple-eu-irish-tax-bill/
- ↑ https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2017/06/27/European-Commission-fines-Google-27B-in-antitrust-ruling/4601498561718/
- ↑ https://www.economist.com/news/business-and-finance/21729965-luxembourgs-comfort-letter-amazon-was-illegal-says-eu-after-bite-apple-margrethe
- ↑ https://www.dw.com/en/eu-fines-mastercard-more-than-half-a-billion-euros/a-4717942
- ↑ http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_STATEMENT-19-1774_en.htm |website=European Commission
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20190531141734/https://www.wired.co.uk/article/margrethe-vestager-eu-fines-google
- ↑ https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/10/margrethe-vestager-to-be-eu-competition-chief-for-5-years.html
- ↑ https://www.politico.eu/article/trump-europe-treats-us-worse-than-china/
- ↑ https://www.politico.eu/article/margrethe-vestager-blowback-selecting-us-professor-key-competition-post/
- ↑ https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2023/07/13/us-professor-gets-key-post-at-european-commission-sparking-criticism_6051849_4.html
- ↑ https://www.politico.eu/article/france-brussels-eu-fiona-scott-morton-economist-competition-emmanuel-macron/
- ↑ https://www.politico.eu/article/france-european-commission-rethink-antitrust-chief-fiona-scott-morton/
- ↑ https://www.politico.eu/newsletter/politico-eu-influence/parliaments-debatable-qatargate-debate-want-whoiswho-back-rillettes-in-red-square-2/
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