EU Competition Commissioner Teresa Ribera aims to facilitate the creation of large European companies (“Champions”) through reforms of the European merger control law. “We need competitive companies on the global market” Ribera told the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”.
The EU Commission wants to introduce new criteria in merger control with the aim of being able to approve merger proposals significantly faster than before. “We will strictly ensure that we always adhere to the principle of the rule of law in these decisions” said the Commissioner. “Investors need legal certainty and the EU must guarantee it.”
The EU competition law also needs to be modernized for other reasons, such as to ensure a smooth transition to a climate-neutral production. “Our industry must clean up its act as quickly as possible and start producing clean products. If we leave this to the market, it may take too long. We also need to ensure that our industry grows quickly enough for the transformation to be possible. This may require adjustments in merger control, as well as in abuse supervision.”
Ribera rejected calls for the EU to apply its Digital Services Act (DSA) less rigorously in order to avoid provoking US President Donald Trump. “This new law is the best way to secure a well-functioning digital market, regardless of individual companies. And external pressure does not impress us.