Quotes from Margrethe Vestager

In Europe, we have three tools when it comes to fair competition. One is antitrust, one is merger control, and the third is state aid control. And the third you don't have in the States.

I remember when I cut my hair. I used to have hair to my shoulders. Immediately, people said, 'Oh, but that's the power cut. Now she looks like a man.'

Very often, I think about the people that I represent. I meet people who have thousands and thousands of employees and millions and millions of customers - and also make a lot of money. But I think about the millions of Europeans that I represent in order to try to balance that so we can meet on more equal terms.

I'm definitely a techno-optimist. I think we can do amazing things. But in my experience, if a thing has great potential, there is also a risk of great downsides, so to speak. Coming from a truly, really enthusiastic 'wow decade,' we are now moving into waters where we are somewhat more cautious.

The list of plane reservations I keep on my phone - it's very, very, very long.

If you're successful in the market, it should be because you have the best products. Then your customers like you, not because then you cut corners, or you get a tax break, or you don't inform authorities about how things actually are.

We would completely delegitimise what we are doing if we allow politics to interfere with our work.

I'm quite enthusiastic about any kind of gadget and app and feature and things that enable me to have a very convenient lifestyle. We buy our groceries on the Internet; I buy furniture, clothes for myself and my kids.

It's my impression that investment in Europe is done for the right reasons. Europe is a very good place to do business; it's a large market.

When we do merger rulings, we have strict deadlines: 25 days. It is extremely intensive, and you must decide how you can do it before your spouse says, 'You know I still love you, but please spend some more time at home.'

In Europe, we don't only take offence when one company is treating another company in a way that's illegal. We also look at if governments are joining up with companies that makes it more difficult for other companies. We also see that sometimes government actions can make it very difficult for businesses to compete on their merits.

I do not have an issue with specific countries or companies; what I'm interested in are schemes which allow for preferential treatment, for selectivity... If this has to change, it's countries that will have to change this.

When a government gives special tax treatment to a few companies, that makes it hard for anyone else to compete on equal terms.

When I was very young and came into politics, I basically thought ideas would do the trick.

The benefits of globalization do not trickle down automatically. It takes politics to make sure that there is a benefit.

You have to teach your algorithm what it can do and what it cannot do because, otherwise, there is a risk that the algorithms will learn the tricks of the old cartels.

If you want things done, you need to be able to find solutions.

A woman who wants to go places needs to bring her own ladder.

If you, as a company, can get a deal that I, as a company, cannot get, you can compete with me but not on the merits, because your tax burden is not the same as mine.

What I have come to realize over the twenty years when I have worked in different roles as a legislator is that no legislation is as good as the enforcement of it.

In Europe, we would congratulate anyone who is successful. But congratulations stop if we find that you start to misuse a dominant position.

Most politicians are either generalists or specialists. It's very rare that a politician is both.

If I had a motto, it would be, 'Believe in God, fear the church'.

I was brought up with a very strong value that you should always protect the small and the few against those who want to misuse their muscle and weight in order to get what they weren't supposed to.