Recent Developments in EU Merger Remedies

摘要

The year 2019 marked the end of Margrethe Vestager's first term and the beginning of her unprecedented second term as EU Competition Commissioner. The Commission continued its recent history of strict, careful merger remedy enforcement despite political calls from some Member States for a loosening of the EU merger control system in the aftermath of the Siemens/Alstom prohibition, which prevented the emergence of a 'European Champion'. The numbers show that during her first term, Commissioner Vestager was a more strict merger enforcer than her predecessor Joaquin Almunia, with materially higher intervention rates.