Europe to vote on Google breakup

The European Parliament is due to vote later on a proposal to break Google's search business away from its other services.

It is the latest twist in a four year antitrust investigation which has so far failed to reach a conclusion.

The body has no power to break up the net giant but the vote will send out a clear message about whether politicians want regulators to take a tough line.

Senior US politicians have criticised the proposal.

A joint letter from two US government committees said that the way the EU is targeting US technology companies raised questions about its commitment to open markets

"This and similar proposals build walls rather than bridges [and] do not appear to give full consideration to the negative effect such policies may have on the broader US-EU trade relationship," wrote senators Ron Wyden and Orrin Hatch and congressmen Dave Camo and Sander Levin.

Meanwhile trade body Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA) said that the "increased politicisation" of the Google competition investigation was "deeply troubling".

Guenther Oettinger, Europe's new commissioner for digital affairs, was also said to be opposed to the move. He is quoted by German business journalist Roland Tichy as saying there would be no break-up.