No antitrust talks at Google meeting: EU's Almunia
The EU's antitrust chief said on Thursday he would meet Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt next week, adding he would not be discussing the regulator's investigation into the Internet search engine's business practices.
The European Commission opened an investigation in November 2010 after nine rivals accused Google of abusing its dominant position in the market for web search services. Google said it has done nothing wrong.
This is not a meeting to discuss in detail the case being investigated by my services. Schmidt is coming for a conference and we are very keen to exchange views, EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia told reporters.
Schmidt is scheduled to speak at a conference organized by the Commission on Monday December 5 at 1700 GMT.
The Commission is now assessing comments from rivals and customers on Google's business practices. It has levied billions of euros in fines on companies, among them Microsoft and Intel, for breaching EU antitrust rules.
(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by David Hulmes)
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