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I would think the European Commission would have better things to do than get involved with companies competing against each other; but evidently that's too much to ask.

They continue to pursue Intel (INTC) concerning what they consider illegal practices of cutting prices to compete against their chief rival Advanced Micro Devices (AMD).

Since when did it become illegal to cut prices as part of the competitive strategy of a company?

The charges are that the cut prices below cost and offered large rebates. In other words, they were trying to gain market share by the tried-and-true method of price cutting.
 
The Commission says the reason they're doing it is to drive AMD out of the market. Duh! That's part of being in business. This is outrageous to me. Is Europe going totally socialist in their practices?

For them to step in and say it's illegal to cut prices for competitive reasons means they are saying there is no such thing as a free market. They're attempting to control the normal business practices of a company. This is ignorant at best.

If the Commission finds them guilty of abuses, they have the power to fine them an extraordinary 10 percent of their annual global revenues. That in itself should be considered an abuse of power by the Commission.

This tactic by AMD of using governments as a tool to compete isn't anything new, it's been done for years. But when a company isn't able to compete, the market should be the only determining factor that sorts it out.

When businesses go this route, as long as it suits their goals it's fine, but when the hammer comes down on them the start to rant about government interference. You can't have it both ways.

It's one thing to bring up legitimate concerns about real issues that could be illegal. Decreasing prices to gain market share isn't one of them. This is completely bogus and uncalled for. My view of AMD has dropped considerably by their inability to compete in the free market, and using the European Commission as a tool to hurt their competitor.