EU competition unit signals antitrust can support industrial policy goals

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EU antitrust supports industry goals

Highlights

Anthony Whelan states the EU Commission will prioritize mergers creating scale and resilience under newly updated approval guidelines launching this spring.
The Commission plans to use competition tools, including state aid, to support industrial policy in research, innovation, energy markets, and industrial recovery.
EU competition policy will target excessive dependencies on China in renewable energy equipment, using foreign subsidy regulations to restrict market access for state-backed firms.

Merger policy shifts toward scale and resilience

As reported by Financial Times, Anthony Whelan says competition policy and industrial policy need to work together more effectively as Europe tries to strengthen its economic position.

Whelan, who takes over in April as director-general of the Commission’s competition department, says the Commission is showing greater willingness to consider large corporate mergers that could create champions, including European champions. He pushes back against the idea that competition rules and industrial policy are inherently in conflict, arguing instead that they can reinforce one another.

The Commission updates its merger approval guidelines this spring, placing greater emphasis on whether deals create scale and resilience. Whelan likens the supposed rivalry between the two policy areas to a conflict that should not define Brussels’ economic approach.

State aid and China dependencies shape the debate

Whelan points to state aid as one area where competition tools can directly support industrial development, especially in research, development and innovation, as well as in better-functioning energy markets. He says well-applied support in those areas can be important for Europe’s industrial recovery or flourishing.

He also says the Commission is concerned about excessive dependencies on China in parts of the renewable energy equipment market, and argues that competition policy has a role there as well. That includes use of the bloc’s foreign subsidy regulation, which allows Brussels to block companies backed by foreign governments from public procurement, mergers and acquisitions in the single market.

His remarks align with competition commissioner Teresa Ribera, who tells an OECD conference in Paris that Brussels does not need to choose between competition and competitiveness. In her view, the bloc needs competition that improves competitiveness.

The European Commission’s evolving approach to large corporate mergers has signalled a greater openness to deals that can be justified by investment, innovation and supply security. Our earlier article noted that Brussels is asking companies to make a fuller case for “pro-competitive” scale and longer-term resilience, while also keeping a close watch on risks such as concentration in AI markets and maintaining the neutrality of antitrust enforcement.

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