By Foo Yun Chee
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager, known for her crackdown and hefty fines meted out to Big Tech for anti-competitive practices, is in the running for the top job at the European Investment Bank (EIB), she said on Tuesday.
Vestager, who has been in her post at the European Commission since 2014, will finish her second five-year term late next year.
“I am pleased that the Danish government have put forward my name to be vetted as possible candidate for the position as President for the European Investment Bank,” the Dane said in a statement.
“And I confirm my availability for the assessment, awaiting the bank’s process and next steps. At this stage I have nothing more to add.”
The EIB, the lending arm of the European Union, provides billions of euros for multiple projects. Its current head is Werner Hoyer, who was reappointed for a second term in 2018.
Vestager has fined Alphabet Inc’s Google more than 8 billion euros ($8.72 billion) in the last decade for anti-competitive practices and last week threatened to break up its lucrative digital advertising business.
She is also investigating Meta Platforms Inc, Apple Inc and Microsoft Corp.
($1 = 0.9174 euros)
(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Richard Chang)
