EU merger policy shift opens path for larger corporate tie-ups

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EU merger policy opens tie-ups

Highlights

Anthony Whelan signals the European Commission will more seriously consider large mergers that enhance scale, innovation, and supply security under revised 2024 guidelines.
The new policy stance may enable previously unlikely EU approvals for deals in sectors like AI, where oligopolistic characteristics and high entry costs have raised concerns.
The Commission maintains a neutral approach to merger enforcement, despite increased transatlantic tensions and U.S. accusations of EU targeting American firms with regulation.

Commission signals broader merger assessment

As reported by Financial Times, Anthony Whelan, who leads the European Commission's competition directorate, says companies should make the case that large mergers can create pro-competitive scale and help deliver better products, services, innovation and security of supply.

His remarks are among the clearest indications that the Commission is reassessing its approach to consolidation after Mario Draghi warned Europe needed to improve its competitiveness. In revised merger guidelines published earlier this year, the Commission incorporated calls for greater openness to mergers and acquisitions as a way to support that agenda.

Whelan, appointed in April, says the new stance could revive transactions once seen as unlikely to pass EU scrutiny. He says Brussels is consciously sending explicit signals that it will seriously consider arguments that mergers can improve access to constrained inputs, support costly innovation or enable investment in infrastructure and networks.

At the same time, he stresses the shift does not amount to preferential treatment for European companies. The Commission, he says, remains "colour blind" when cases come and is instead looking more closely at how markets may evolve over a longer period.

AI and transatlantic tensions shape enforcement backdrop

Artificial intelligence is one of the sectors drawing close attention in Brussels, where policymakers fear the cost of developing advanced models and securing computing power could leave the market dominated by a small number of U.S. groups.

Whelan says AI has some characteristics of an oligopoly and that regulators are focused on lowering barriers to entry. He adds that the Commission is monitoring whether competition to develop and commercialise models is distorted by practices in adjacent parts of the AI ecosystem.

The policy shift comes as Brussels tries to balance strict enforcement of its digital and competition rules with the need to avoid a deeper clash with Washington. U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly accused the EU of targeting U.S. companies and has threatened tariffs in response to enforcement actions.

Whelan describes disagreements with Washington over the EU's digital rule book as disappointing, but rejects suggestions that geopolitical pressure is stopping Brussels from pursuing cases against American companies. He says the predictability and neutrality of EU enforcement are becoming more valuable as political intervention in other economies grows less predictable.

Our earlier coverage of the European Commission’s shifting merger stance outlined how Brussels is increasingly inviting companies to justify large deals by pointing to pro-competitive scale, innovation, investment capacity and supply-chain security, while stressing that reviews remain neutral and “colour blind.” We also noted that this broader assessment is paired with closer attention to AI-sector concentration and the challenge of enforcing EU digital and competition rules without escalating tensions with Washington.

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