Oh, You Silly Europeans, With Your Tiny Cars, Dark Beers and Antitrust Rulings …

And we wonder why the stereotype of the ugly American–voracious, arrogant and self-interested–is so firmly in place in Europe…

This morning European Union Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes lambasted the U.S. Justice Department for its criticism of the European Court of First Instance’s ruling on an antitrust judgment against Microsoft. Issued Monday, the court’s decision to dismiss Microsoft’s appeal of a landmark 2004 ruling by the EU and uphold nearly $700 million in fines sparked an immediate negative reaction from Thomas Barnett, the Justice Department’s antitrust chief, who said it would have “the unfortunate consequence of harming consumers by chilling innovation and discouraging competition. … In the United States, antitrust laws are enforced to protect consumers by protecting competition, not competitors.”

Suffice it to say, Barnett’s “we don’t do that sort of thing over here” remarks did not go over well in the EU. In an unusually harsh response EU chief antitrust enforcer Kroes said: “It is totally unacceptable that a representative of the U.S. administration criticized an independent court of law outside its jurisdiction. The European Commission does not pass judgment on rulings by U.S. courts and we expect the same degree of respect.”