Senators John Kerry, D-Mass., and Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, led fifty-nine Senators in sending a letter to the European Commission Tuesday requesting that the commission approve the Oracle-Sun merger.
"The deal between Oracle and Sun was announced in April and seven months have gone by without a resolution," Kerry said. "Continued delay of the European Commission's decision on clearance threatens thousands of American jobs, so we felt compelled to ask for a speedy resolution."
Kerry said the commission was "within its sovereign rights to set the rules for operation in its market, but with our Department of Justice having made a compelling case that the merger does not pose a threat to competition, it is fair to ask the EC for the basis on which a delay on decision making is warranted and to make a decision one way or the other."
"I have become increasingly concerned about the growing body of evidence that foreign regulatory agencies are unfairly using their review processes to impede the business of American corporations," added Hatch.
He continued, "This transaction has been thoroughly reviewed by the United States Department of Justice, which has decided to take no action. Therefore, I hope the EC will quickly conclude their investigation into this transaction."
In the letter itself, the Senators argue that the Justice Department "did not find documentary evidence that this acquisition would harm competition."
"Accordingly, we respectfully request the European Commission complete its investigation of this transaction as quickly as possible," they wrote.
Last week, the European Commission announced that it had extended its deadline for deciding on the merger by six working days to January 27. The commission has said that it has concerns about the possibility that the merger could reduce competition in the database software market.
According to the commission, the six-day delay was requested by Oracle itself in order to give the company time to come up with a response to the commission's concerns. This seems to contradict Oracle's earlier stance, which had said that the delays were costing the company up to $100 million per month.
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