In launching cases, Commission shows it plays by rules

 "It's commendable that the commission is prepared to stand up for little Eastern European countries at the risk of hurting relations with Russia," said Charles Grant director of the Centre for European Reform, a London-based think-tank.These lobbying efforts at a national level to halt such actions have gone unrewarded. In part, said Mr. Grant, this is because politicians in Beijing and Moscow struggle to understand how Brussels works. "The Chinese don't understand the rules-based system that operates here. They think that by lobbying Merkel they can make sure the commission behaves.…They think that our system works like their system of government," he said. "Russia also thinks that it can manage relations with Europe by talking to Paris, Berlin and to a certain extent London," he added.