France says Google fines should cut what EU countries pay into the budget
France wants the billions of euros Google has paid in EU fines to lower what member states pay into the bloc’s budget.
Benjamin Haddad, the Minister Delegate for European Affairs, made the case in an interview with the TV channel Franceinfo on Tuesday, Reuters reported.
“This is a new revenue source for the European Union, worth €4.6 billion, that should automatically lower the contributions of all member states,” Haddad said.
He didn’t specify which penalty the figure refers to; the largest recent one is the €4.125bn fine for Android, a decision confirmed by the EU’s highest court on 2 July after an eight-year legal battle.
When interest is taken into account, that fine amounts to around €4.7bn, as stated by Agence Europe. Across almost two decades of competition cases, Brussels has now fined Google a total of €10.38bn.
That includes €890m in July, the first penalty under...
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