Google and European regulators try new moves as death cage match intensifies

As anti-Google rhetoric from European regulators heats up, the search giant is revamping its approach to working with policymakers.

Google unveiled today a reorganization of its European operations that merges two regional groups into one larger one. The idea is to present a more unified front to policymakers while also matching the broader regional approach by companies such as Facebook.

The company has now created a single European, Middle East, and Africa business unit. Previously, it had a Dublin-based group that oversaw northern and western Europe, and a separate group that ran southern and eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

The confirmation was subtle, coming in a blog post from Matt Brittin, who was listed as president of Google’s “EMEA Business and Operations.” Facebook also has an EMEA group. Brittin had previously been running the Northern Europe group.

In the blog post, Google announced it would spent $30 million to provide digital skills training to 1 million people working in small businesses across the EMEA. This is the latest gift from a company that’s been doling out goodies here and there over the past year in an effort to soften its image in the region.

“It’s clear that the opportunities for businesses in the digital age are immense — there are many more ways to reach customers than anyone could have imagined not that long ago,” Brittin wrote. “But, for Europe to reach its full potential, we need to clear the way for companies online.”

Brittin also said Google is backing a proposal to create a digital single market in Europe, a move to establish a single set of rules governing things like privacy and competition in all European countries. Currently, Google and other Silicon Valley companies complain that they must deal with a tangled thicket of rules and regulations at the local, national, and European levels that hamper their ability to comply with all rules.

The move to create a digital single market was introduced recently by new European leaders who also want to address the complicated nature of digital rules. But Google and others should be careful what they wish for: Many backers of the digital single market see it as a way to enforce tougher rules against tech giants.

Some EU officials argue that tech companies shop around for jurisdictions where rules on things such as privacy and taxes are most favorable.

Earlier this week, Europe’s digital economy chief Guenther Oettinger said in a speech that the EU needs the single market to provide greater protection from Google and Facebook.

“The Americans are in the lead, they’ve got the data, the business models, and so the power,” he said, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Oettinger also argues that a single market will allow European startups to expand more rapidly and gain greater scale to compete against Silicon Valley giants.