This comes after Ms Vestager said in December she would review the EU’s competition rulebook and admitted this would “take some time”. The economy ministers of France, Germany, Italy and Poland demanded the Commission adopt a work plan to address the challenges of making industries competitive. They said global competition has changed and highlighted how European companies must compete with foreign companies who benefit from state support or from domestic markets.
The letter said: “We suggest that the European Commission gives the highest priority to the drafting of proposals aimed at putting in place a framework for the definition and the regulation of ‘digital platform with paramount importance for competition.
“We also stress the importance of an ambitious timetable regarding this, given the utmost importance of the matter.
“In our view, the Commission’s proposals ought to be issued ideally by the end of the second quarter of 2020.
“Therefore, the priority work to be carried out in close cooperation with the Member States for this purpose must be set out swiftly, i.e. in the forthcoming weeks.”
The letter urged the bloc to give greater guidance to organisations on how to “strengthen their clout on foreign markets”.
The economy ministers said: “In this regard, guidelines on the creation of European joint ventures which target markets could provide clarity for EU firms.”
They promised in the letter they would provide political support to meet challenges as they try to become more competitive.
SEE MORE: LBC’s Nick Ferrari rages at EU over ‘absolutely wrong’ Google fine