How has European competition policy empowered the commission?

Résumé du document

This question could appear really simple, and the first answer that comes is "yes of course": with the introduction of European Competition Policy, the EU Commission has an extended power, and can now decide if a company respects competition laws in the Union or not. But this issue is actually more complicated, and is in fact thought-worthy: is this a real power, which enables the Commission to take new measures? Another way to discuss is to look at the issue from companies' point of view: some of them could be now afraid by settling in Europe, because of this increasing power of the Commission. To conclude, we can say that the power given by European Competition policy to the Commission is not absolute. I will thereby try to explain in this paper in what circumstances the Commission more power has now, and what are the aim and the limits of this power.
In a first part, I will present briefly the Commission, and particularly its connection with competition. I will introduce European Competition policy too, in order to explain the role of the Commission, and its theoretical possibilities to take measures concerning competition issues. Then I will analyze some cases of conflict between Commission and companies concerning competition. This analysis will help me to conclude, and to underline the limits of the power of Commission given by European Competition Policy.

Extraits

[...] It cans then decide if State aids are not too high, or if a merger creates or strengthens the dominant position of a company, whereas governments of members States but European Parliament and Council of Ministers too think first to the interests of who they represents. And I add that more basically, European Competition Policy empowered the Commission, because it gives a new field of action for Commissioners. And the example of Italian Telecom operators and maybe the case of Hachette too shows that now, if consumers are not satisfied of their purchasing power, or of the competition in their country, they can find in the Commission a new interlocutor. [...]

[...] That creates inevitably a situation of monopoly, and since then Microsoft has a dominant position. The firm was condemned by the European Union for illegal abuse of this near monopoly. Two points were ruled: - Microsoft's operating system Windows 2000 was specially done to advantage Microsoft's softwares, in order to avoid any competitive threat: softwares from other companies (Sun Microsystems, RealNetworks) were deprived. This position was not conforming to the antitrust enforcement of the EU Competition Commission: other softwares developers lacked information, and so were not able to be competitive. [...]

[...] The real power that European Competition Policy gives to the Commission emerges now. A. Impose fines: a real power? In this part, I will underline the fact that fines that impose the Commission are often quite ridiculous, compared with the huge turnover those companies realize in the European Union. The example of Microsoft is in this case edifying: the total fine imposed by the Commission amount to 1,676 billions of Euros, which is a small part of the turnover of Microsoft. [...]

[...] If Italy does not take the necessary measures to comply with the reasoned opinion within two months of receipt, the Commission may decide to refer Italy to the European Court of Justice. The Commission followed there a complaint from the Italian consumers' association Altroconsumo, and this example show haw the Commission can be more efficient, and in a sense more powerful than governments of member States. The real power of the Commission The precedents examples were chosen for their interest, and because they help me to specify the role of the Commission in European Competition Policy. [...]

[...] - In February 2007, the Commission decided that Microsoft had not complied with its obligation pursuant to the Decision to give access to the interoperability information on reasonable and non- discriminatory terms. Therefore, on 27 February 2008, the Commission adopted a decision imposing on Microsoft a penalty payment of million B. Hachette : an example of merger that would have created a dominant position 1. The issue In the early 2000', Jean-Marie Messier, in those days in the head of Vivendi Universal, create Vivendi Universal Publishing, the publishing branch of the company. [...]