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Germany also "fixes" book prices.
This investigation - as similar investigations in the US - is probably not about agency pricing itself...as discussed above, many European companies require fixed pricing. (And presumably the EU is not raiding the Bundestag:-)).
What they are presumably investigating are the "most favored nation" clauses in the agency agreements. I.e., contract provisions that prohibit the publisher from setting a lower price for Amazon than it does for B&N or Apple.
In other words, it's almost certainly okay for the publisher to set prices (particularly in continental Europe). It's likewise almost certainly okay for the publisher to set the same prices. But it may not be okay for the publisher to *agree* to not offer differential pricing.
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