The European Commission again objects to a deal approved by the United States Department of Justice

ONCE every few years, it seems, the European Commission likes to flex its muscles by going head to head with the toughest, most uncompromising American chief executive it can find. In 2001 it took on the legendary prizefighter “Neutron Jack” Welch of General Electric. Now it has come out swinging against Oracle’s martial-arts grandmaster Larry Ellison. (As the old joke goes: “What’s the difference between God and Larry Ellison? God doesn’t think he’s Larry Ellison.”)

Now, as then, the battleground is antitrust law. And once again it is not just the American bosses who are feeling the pain of a left-hook from Brussels—so too is America’s Department of Justice, which has approved a merger only for its counterparts in the European Commission to object to it. In 2001 the European trustbusters opposed GE’s $42 billion acquisition of Honeywell—a deal already given the thumbs-up by America’s antitrust officials. On November 9th the commission issued a “statement of objections” (see article) to Oracle’s planned $7.4 billion acquisition of Sun Microsystems, which the Department of Justice approved in August. …

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