WASHINGTON — Andrus Ansip, the European Commission’s vice president for creating a unified digital marketplace, on Thursday rejected the charge that the EU is closing its doors to U.S. tech companies.

But he suggested American Internet firms might need to change their ways to comply with rules put in place to allow for home-grown innovation.

“With the digital single market, we have been accused of unfairly targeting U.S. tech companies. This is not true,” said Ansip at a Brookings Institution event. Pointing to editorials that have argued the plan amounts to digital protectionism, Ansip said, “there is no basis for that kind of complaint.”

The aim of the plan to harmonize technology laws and standards across 28 different countries, said Ansip, “is not to reduce competition in the European Union, but to ensure that Europe can compete globally, for our companies to [be able to] scale up services across all EU countries. Our doors are open, not closed. There is no anti-American agenda.” He went on to say that the purpose of the plan is “tearing down regulatory walls, not putting up new ones.”

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Ansip added that the only bias is one against companies, foreign or domestic, that do not comply with the European Union’s rule.

Still, there’s clearly tension between Europe’s emerging digital expectations and the way U.S. tech companies operate. Asked about calls for Google to share its search algorithms with regulators, Ansip said that while “business secrets have always existed and they will also exist in the future … I would like to know where there are paid search results and where they are promoting their own services.” As for requiring Google to detail those methods, he said, “Maybe it’s not too much to ask.”