Margrethe Vestager Quotes
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You have to teach your algorithm what it can do and what it cannot do because, otherwise, there is a risk that the algorithms will learn the tricks of the old cartels.
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No government can give a selective advantage to a specific company, because that would make competition unfair.
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If you're successful in the market, it should be because you have the best products. Then your customers like you, not because then you cut corners, or you get a tax break, or you don't inform authorities about how things actually are.
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If you, as a company, can get a deal that I, as a company, cannot get, you can compete with me but not on the merits, because your tax burden is not the same as mine.
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In Europe, we have three tools when it comes to fair competition. One is antitrust, one is merger control, and the third is state aid control. And the third you don't have in the States.
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I think it's a completely good thing to want to do business, to want to make money and be a success in the marketplace, to get the attention of customers. I'm not in the business of pointing fingers or blaming companies, but there is a limit to everything.
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Most politicians are either generalists or specialists. It's very rare that a politician is both.
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When we do merger rulings, we have strict deadlines: 25 days. It is extremely intensive, and you must decide how you can do it before your spouse says, 'You know I still love you, but please spend some more time at home.'
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If I had a motto, it would be, 'Believe in God, fear the church'.
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When a government gives special tax treatment to a few companies, that makes it hard for anyone else to compete on equal terms.
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A woman who wants to go places needs to bring her own ladder.
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Few people think about politics every day. But they are in the market every day.
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It's my impression that investment in Europe is done for the right reasons. Europe is a very good place to do business; it's a large market.
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Very often, I think about the people that I represent. I meet people who have thousands and thousands of employees and millions and millions of customers - and also make a lot of money. But I think about the millions of Europeans that I represent in order to try to balance that so we can meet on more equal terms.
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Dominant companies can't abuse their position to create advantage in related markets.
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If you want things done, you need to be able to find solutions.
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I remember when I cut my hair. I used to have hair to my shoulders. Immediately, people said, 'Oh, but that's the power cut. Now she looks like a man.'
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I think it is one of the fundamentals, not only of the European Union but also of free trade, that competition is fair.
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In Europe, we don't only take offence when one company is treating another company in a way that's illegal. We also look at if governments are joining up with companies that makes it more difficult for other companies. We also see that sometimes government actions can make it very difficult for businesses to compete on their merits.
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I have a very strong tool in competitional enforcement: To do merger control, to look into cartels, misuse of dominant position - when member states hand out favors, for instance, in terms of tax breaks. But even though that's a strong tool, it cannot solve everything.
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Planning is like taking on blinders. I think it is a wise thing to be open to whatever shows up on your doorstep.
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We have to take our democracy back. We cannot leave it to Facebook or Snapchat or anyone else. We have to take democracy back and renew it. Society is about people and not about technology.
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To me, a tax heaven is where everyone pays their fair share. In that respect, I am not quite sure we are in tax heaven yet.
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When I was very young and came into politics, I basically thought ideas would do the trick.