Bundeskartell Authority Head Criticizes Hospital Reform and Calls for Data Protection
Andreas Mundt, the head of the German Federal Cartel Office, views the hospital reform approved by the German Bundestag with skepticism, as it would no longer allow the authority to control hospital fusions.
In an interview with the “Rheinische Post”, Mundt said, “It is obvious that a reform is needed in the hospital sector. But we criticize the fact that the states can now allow hospital mergers without our competitive control. Now, patients in some areas may no longer have a choice, which can indirectly affect the quality.”
Moreover, Mundt rejected the demands of the designated US Vice President, JD Vance, not to regulate the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) in the EU. “As for X, I can only say that companies that want to do business in Europe must adhere to the applicable law and regulations here. This is not negotiable.”
Meta, which operates Instagram and Facebook, has made a step in the right direction, according to Mundt, as “Meta follows our main demands. Customers now have the option to choose whether their data will be combined at Meta services like Facebook or Instagram, and also how and whether external data will be stored and used. If they don’t want that, they can still use the services. This was not the case before our procedure.”
He advises customers to take a closer look at the options: “I can only give the advice to take a closer look at the options. We have made great efforts in our talks with Meta to ensure that users can easily understand the possible options for data use.”
The Federal Cartel Office also intends to scrutinize the currently extremely high electricity prices on the power exchanges. “We continuously and closely monitor the price formation on the power market” Mundt said. “The winter of 2024/2025 is the first one we will face with a reduced power plant capacity. Therefore, significant price fluctuations upwards were to be expected, and they can be a normal and unmanipulated market result. But we will make sure to take a very close look at the price formation during the power outage period” Mundt added.
To sell more electric cars, more competition among charging stations is needed, the Cartel Office head said: “It’s not good that many municipalities allocate spaces for charging stations primarily to their own public utility or to only one provider. Customers only have a choice if they can find charging stations of multiple providers in a not-too-wide radius. To strengthen the diversity of providers in the future, the limited local market reach of the affected markets should be taken into account particularly when awarding contracts.