Google does EU deal to avoid competition fines

Mr Almunia said: "I believe that the new proposal obtained from Google after long and difficult talks can now address the Commission's concerns.

"Without preventing Google from improving its own services, it provides users with real choice between competing services presented in a comparable way; it is then up to them to choose the best alternative.

"This way, both Google and its rivals will be able and encouraged to innovate and improve their offerings."

But ICOMP, a body representing the complainants, who also include the Premier League, Streetmap.co.uk and the record industry group PPL, said it would fight the deal.

David Wood, ICOMP's lawyers, said: "We had been led to believe the technical details were important.

"All this proposals do is address a small issue about how results are displayed. This doesn't do anything to restore proper competition by banning Google from discriminating."

"There is no good reason for the way it is being done other than to railroad it through while Mr Almunia is still in office."

Mr Almunia is due to step down this year. Mr Wood said there was "no way" the complainants would agree to the deal and that they could take the European Commission to court.

The agreement covers the way search results are displays but still allows Google to promote its own secondary services. When it does so however, it must also show results in a "comparable" way from three rivals, chosen using an objective method.

Mr Wood also expressed concern over the scope of the deal and whether it would cover specialist services such as online video and mapping, where Google also dominates with YouTube and Google Maps.

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