Its approval had been uncertain since the commission launched a formal antitrust investigation in September over concerns the combination could harm the database software market. The US Department of Justice has already approved the transaction and Oracle said in a statement it "expects unconditional approval from China and Russia and intends to close the transaction shortly." "Oracle's acquisition of Sun has the potential to revitalise important assets and create new and innovative products" in Europe, Kroes said.
Initially, the commission was worried that Oracle, the world's No 1 maker of proprietary database software, would not fully support Sun's MySQL division, which makes a competing database product, reducing customer choices and increasing cost. The EU Commission said in a statement that its investigation "showed that although MySQL and Oracle compete in certain parts of the database market, they are not close competitors in others, such as the high-end segment." It also found that competition could be maintained through other channels.