Kroes Speaks On Role Of Competition Policy In Promoting Single Market

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

27 April 2006

Speaking at a lunch hosted by The Kangaroo Group on Tuesday, Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes discussed the role of competition policy in promoting the European single market.

She told those attending the meeting that:

"You take your name from an animal renowned for its great bounding strides. Europe’s economy needs just such a leap forward if we are to remain competitive for generations to come. As Competition Commissioner, my job is to ensure that Europe’s markets provide a level playing field for business. Just the right platform, if you like, to launch such a leap forward."

The Competition Commissioner continued:

"At the Spring summit the European Council committed itself to implementing a number of concrete actions in four key areas for the next steps in the Lisbon agenda: knowledge and innovation, a better business environment, jobs, and a European energy policy."

"The European Council also endorsed the Commission’s important conclusion that the Member States should take more concrete action to make markets more open and competitive. To achieve this objective requires patience and dogged determination. Competition and internal market policy must go hand in hand every step of the way."

"Competitive, open markets are also essential to ensure that companies are pressed on to deliver the innovative products and services which will be the ‘must-haves’ of the future. And competition is the principal driver of innovation. The less competition, the less the pressure to innovate. And vice versa. I know which is better for consumers. And which is better for Europe’s long-term sustainable growth."

Ms Kroes went on to present one of the main initiatives that the EC is taking to make markets more open, innovative and competitive in line with Lisbon, namely the State Aid Action Plan 2005-2009.

She concluded by condemning the apparent rise in protectionism with regard to certain cross-border mergers, observing that:

"Mergers between companies based in different Member States are particularly likely to create strong European groups able to win on global markets and at the same time provide better choice and value to European industrial and domestic customers in support of the strategy for growth and jobs."

"That is why the Commission looks with great concern at the apparent trend in several Member States towards interference by national governments in the process of corporate mergers both in the area of energy and financial services. This is another area where we will have to be very vigilant in order to protect the integrity of the internal market, whilst assessing individual mergers in a fair, objective and coherent way."

The Kangaroo Group is an informal forum in which politicians, officials and social partners can come together to exchange information and views; and to devise further initiatives for the development of the European Union.

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