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.
It's not in my mission to work against Euroskepticism; it's my mission to work for fair markets. In antitrust, what is at stake is, in some ways, as old as Adam and Eve because it is about greed, to get more.
If you want things done, you need to be able to find solutions.
We want a free market, but we know that the paradox of a 'free' market is that sometimes you have to intervene. You have to make sure it's not the law of the jungle but the laws of democracy that works.
Dominant companies can't abuse their position to create advantage in related markets.
I was brought up with a very strong value that you should always protect the small and the few against those who want to misuse their muscle and weight in order to get what they weren't supposed to.
Competition is one of the most important drivers of innovation because you have to stay in the race. You have to think of something new, and if you don't, well, of course you should leave the market.
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.
In Europe, we would congratulate anyone who is successful. But congratulations stop if we find that you start to misuse a dominant position.
The list of plane reservations I keep on my phone - it's very, very, very long.
I've asked myself what is the worst thing that can happen if I take this decision and go along with it. Very often, I find that the worst thing that can happen is something that I can live with. And if that's the case, I will do it.
When a government gives special tax treatment to a few companies, that makes it hard for anyone else to compete on equal terms.
I think I am like anyone else. I respect other people and, of course, I expect that it works the other way around.
I think a lot can be said for consolidation, but I think it should be done for the right reasons.
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.
It is very important, to have a robust digital economy, that the citizens regain the trust in how their data are being processed and who can access them.
Most politicians are either generalists or specialists. It's very rare that a politician is both.
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.
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.
A huge part of Apple profits generated in Europe, in African countries, Middle East, and India were all booked in Ireland. And I think it is a very basic principle in taxation that your profits are taxed where the profits are generated.
