EU Asks More of Google

BRUSSELS--European Union antitrust authorities are seeking fresh concessions from Google Inc. (GOOGL) in their long-running investigation into the U.S. company's search practices in Europe, after receiving "very, very" negative responses to a proposed settlement announced in February, the EU's antitrust chief said.

Any decision to reopen the EU's settlement with Google for an unprecedented fourth time would be something of an about-face for EU competition chief Joaquín Almunia, who has long insisted that Google's commitments were sufficient to meet his agency's competition concerns.

The turnaround comes after the European Commission decided that some concerns raised by complainants in response to letters explaining Brussels' settlement decision were "justified," Mr. Almunia said.

"We...are trying to understand the arguments of the complainants and trying to extract from Google solutions to these solid arguments," Joaquin Almunia, the EU's competition commissioner, told Bloomberg TV in an interview on Sept. 6.

The Wall Street Journal reported in July that the commission was preparing to revisit the proposed settlement for a fourth time.

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