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Andreas Schwab, a member of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats, dismissed as an over-reaction concerns that Europe’s reputation will be hit by his call for regulators to consider splitting up search engines as a last resort.

Comments from the U.S. and elsewhere that “to mention this word” unbundling “will create a difficult assessment of the European Union as a whole” is a “little bit too far- reaching,” Schwab said in an interview ahead of the vote on search-engine rules at the parliament in Strasbourg, France. “We are taking this seriously and we are seeing what can be done on this. We don’t want to bash anyone.”

Schwab is among 15 lawmakers who are sponsoring a resolution that would ask the European Union’s executive arm to consider “unbundling search engines from other commercial services.” The document, which the assembly will decide whether to back today, doesn’t mention the company.

Schwab works as an adviser to the German law firm CMS Hasche Sigle, which has worked for VDZ, a German magazine publishers’ group that’s complained to the EU about Google’s behavior. Schwab said “there was no conflict of interest whatsoever” and he has never worked on the Google case or any other “concrete mandate” for the firm.

The U.S. government and an industry group also voiced concerns over the assembly’s attempt to influence an ongoing antitrust probe. Google, already grappling with a range of legal issues in Europe, was told by data-protection officials yesterday to cut some search links worldwide on request.

Remained Silent

While Google has remained silent on the parliament plan, the company has won support from Germany’s Guenther Oettinger, the EU’s digital economy commissioner, who said a breakup wouldn’t happen on his watch.

Al Verney, a spokesman for Google in Brussels, declined to comment yesterday on the possible measures.

The pro-business Liberals have sought to strike out Schwab’s suggestion of breaking up Google.

Political Pressure

Dita Charanzova, the Czech politician who’s proposed the change, told the assembly yesterday that other parties were using the resolution to attack Google. Charanzova said they should respect the independence of EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager to do what she thinks right without political pressure from Brussels or beyond.

Petr Mach, a Czech EU skeptic member, also wrote to parliamentarians to ask them to vote against a “forced split” of Google, which he said would be “strong interference” with a “dynamic and functioning market.”

Splitting Google is merely one of several options the European Commission should consider, Schwab said in the interview. Regulators that sought to define Internet companies as “critical infrastructure” in proposed cybersecurity rules could extend that definition to its lengthy antitrust probe.

Schwab and colleague Ramon Tremosa have written to Andrus Ansip, the commission’s vice-president for digital policy, “to tell us coherently what the commission’s position on this gatekeeper position is,” he said.

Clarity Needed

“We need to have clarity on this,” he said. “We need to have that either in the legislation area or the competition area.”

Ansip told the parliament yesterday that the EU needed to address non-discrimination for search engines. Regulators should discuss transparency, self-preference and vertical services, he said, citing issues raised by companies that have complained to the EU about Google.

German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel and three ministerial colleagues wrote to the EU earlier this month to say they supported the antitrust probe into Google.

They asked the commission to ensure dominant search engines don’t favor their own services, use others’ unauthorized content, effectively force websites to use their platform and impede the transfer of advertising content to other platforms.

Vestager, who took office on Nov. 1, says she’ll decide the direction of the probe after she’s spoken to companies affected by its behavior.

Plans to settle the case were delayed on negative feedback from rivals.