Joaquín Almunia, the European Union’s new commissioner for competition policy said that the EC will continue to monitor tech companies for anti-trust behaviour. There had been a thought that Almunia might be a bit kinder to technology companies than his  predecessor, Neelie Kroes, who slapped a €1 billion fine on Intel for antitrust violations and took Microsoft to the cleaners.

The Intel penalty remains the highest the EU has ever imposed on a single company but Intel is appealing the decision. However it looks like Almunia will not be letting up on tech companies that flout anti-trust laws.

The European Commission “cannot remain indifferent to the absence of effective reparations for victims of infractions. It will be necessary to guard against excess that can exist in certain jurisdictions,” Almunia said.

Mr. Almunia also said he would keep an eye on developments in the area of online commerce, suggesting there was a need to strike a better balance to ensure that traditional retailers were able to compete with merchants selling goods over the Internet.