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EU Trade Commissioner Enjoyed MS Hospitality

Posted by Zonk on from the questionable-company dept.

Brian Blessed writes "Today's edition of The Times contains a report that Peter Mandelson, the EU (European Union) Trade Commissioner, spent New Year's Eve as a guest of Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft, in the Carribean on Mr Allen's luxury yacht. The story mentions the conflict of interest that this causes because of the protracted legal battle between Microsoft and the European Commission. Perhaps the Trade Commissioner has also been in a position to influence the progress of European Software Patent legislation?"

6 of 196 comments (clear)

  1. WHINE WHINE WHINE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    so a rich guy got on a boat dont you anti MS zelots have anything smart to cry about?? what a bunch of morones!

  2. Doesnt matter who he spends his time with by rjdohnert · · Score: 1, Troll

    Paul Allen is no longer an employee, partner or shareholder at Microsoft anymore. He gave up everything. The European Council put on Microsoft one of the largest fines EVER imposed by the EU so I doubt very much he was influenced. As for Software patents, I cant wait until they pass, Im a huge supporter.

  3. Re:Perception vs reality. by Saeed+al-Sahaf · · Score: -1, Troll
    If you knew anything about Mandelson's political history you might think this incident deserves a little investigation. Any search for him at the BBC's news site should turn up some useful information.

    Had you actually done the search and found any solid leads, your post would have actually been "insightful". As it is, your moderation is simply more Slashdot masturbation.

    --
    "Who are in control, they are not in control of anything - they don't even control themselves!" - Glen Beck
  4. Re:American Flag? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Give us time. We're working out the invasion plans. France will be the easy part since they'll surrender when we start airdropping deodorant on Paris.

  5. Asshole by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Peter Mandelson is an asssshollle anyway, he's been sacked from UK gov 2 times, dont trust him an inch, oops micromillimetre and as usual all shite uk politians end up in the EU . FUCK HIM !!!!!!!

  6. EU better than US? by sac13 · · Score: 0, Troll

    I admit that the powers that be in the US are corrupt. There are many people that claim we have a monopoly on that. It's nice to actually see some evidence on Slashdot that the holier-than-thou Europeans are just as greedy... that subject tends to get ignored by a lot of people around here.

    Now mod me flamebait...