The head of Germany’s Federal Cartel Office, Andreas Mundt, warns that political influence is increasingly undermining competition authorities worldwide. “The world has become more complex for competition regulators” he told the specialist service “Tagesspiegel Background”. “When political blocs focus more on their own interests, it becomes harder to enforce competition law consistently on the international stage”.
Mundt is concerned about what he calls the “whirlwind of politics”. At the International Cartel Conference in Berlin, he and fellow ministers will discuss on Thursday and Friday how to safeguard the independence of competition authorities as geopolitical divisions deepen.
He rebuts claims that the European Commission is acting more cautiously in cases against X and other digital giants out of fear of US retaliation. “There are no signs that EU regulators are pulling back for political reasons” Mundt said. “We’re not being pressured, and I don’t see that happening in Brussels either, even amid the tariff dispute”.