European Court Expects Flood Of Post-Accession Competition Cases

by Ulrika Lomas, for LawAndTax-News.com, Brussels

31 March 2003

The European Court of First Instance is likely to be faced with many more competition cases when the current batch of 10 predominantly Eastern European countries accedes to the European Union.

According to reports, the CFI is bracing for a flood of new cases because of the traditionally greater reliance of industries in many of the pre-accession countries on state subsidies, which are likely to be deemed anti-competitive by the European Union.

The European Commission is currently working with the governments of the ten countries in order to clear up as many of the outstanding competition issues as possible before they become full members of the EU in 2004.

Speaking to the Danish media last week, a spokesman for the EU suggested that although pressure on the Court's time and resources is likely to be increased next year, the mood is generally optimistic.

'We are trying to avoid being swamped by cases. We have very efficient mechanisms, and in addition all the new countries have their own state subsidies authorities - and we are co-operating with them,' he revealed.

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