The Open Cloud Coalition dismissed criticism, too, saying it was “transparent about its members.”

“We are not anti any one company, we are a pro-market coalition that is focused on advocating for principles that will strengthen the marketplace for cloud services in Europe, principally openness and interoperability,” Nicky Stewart, a senior adviser to the Open Cloud Coalition, said in an emailed comment.

A long-running fight

The Google-Microsoft rivalry goes back decades, but recent lobbying clashes in Brussels have rekindled animosity between the two.

In September, Google filed an antitrust complaint with the European Commission asking for a probe into Microsoft’s licensing contracts that it said may have unfairly pushed customers toward the Azure cloud business.

That complaint came hot on the heels of a deal in another closely watched standoff: Over the summer, Microsoft signed a truce with cloud association CISPE (backed by rival Amazon) that saw it get paid to drop a complaint to European Union antitrust regulators.

In her blog post, Alaily gave new details on the backroom fight over the deal with CISPE. “In July, when CISPE was on the verge of resolving its complaint against Microsoft, Google offered CISPE’s members a combination of cash and credits amounting to an eye-popping $500 million to reject the settlement and continue pursuing litigation. Wisely, they declined,” she wrote.

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