Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras(L) welcomes the European Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager at the Prime Minister's Office in Athens, Greece on Sept. 13, 2018. Alexis Tsipras and Margrethe Vestager discussed about commerce and tax evasion. (Xinhua/Marios Lolos)
by Maria Spiliopoulou
ATHENS, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Competition in the markets needs to be enhanced to show to people that the game is played on equal terms, EU Commissioner responsible for Competition Margrethe Vestager said on Thursday while addressing the Greek parliament, according to Greek national news agency AMNA.
The European official was on a one-day visit to Athens to brief the Greek MPs about the Commission's work on enhancing competition in many sectors.
Regarding state subsidies and their control, for example, she said that the Commission's aim is to avoid distortions in trade between countries and to guarantee that competition operates in a way that both small and large players behave in a fair way.
Vestager referred also to the operation of giant companies and attempts to enforce competition rules.
"When citizens and businesses pay taxes, they need to feel that the big player will have to adhere to the competition rules and that he pays like anybody else," she explained.
"We do our best to ensure that just as small and large companies are operating on the right terms, so do companies such as Google and Amazon. In the EU, the rules must be respected by all, and this is the EU's rule of justice," the European commissioner stressed.
Before speaking at the assembly Vestager also held talks with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who welcomed her to Greece, but no statements were made after the meeting.
