Report on Competition Policy 2024

Competition policies
601 Press & Media

Background

The Commission’s 2024 report presents the main legislative initiatives and policy developments in 2024, as well as a selection of important enforcement actions. It highlights the role of competition policy in strengthening the Single Market and shows how competition policy has helped support industrial policy objectives, while protecting and empowering consumers. In 2024, the Commission continued its ambitious review of competition regulations, guidelines and notices, to make the rules simpler and clearer for businesses and ensure they remain fit for purpose. It also continued to vigorously enforce the EU competition rules in the areas of antitrust, merger and State aid control as well as its two internal market tools, namely the Digital Markets Act and the Foreign Subsidies Regulation.

The EESC notes that these analyses provide a valuable evidence base for shaping future competition policy and enforcement. It highlights the need for a balanced approach that considers market evolution, sectoral specificities and international developments, while ensuring effective coordination among authorities and stakeholders.

For the EESC, the report confirms the importance of evidence-based policy-making and international cooperation in competition matters. It underscores the Committee’s view that continued monitoring, transparent analysis and stakeholder engagement are essential to ensure that EU competition policy remains effective, fair and aligned with broader economic and social objectives.

Key points

In its opinion, the EESC:

  • Welcomes the Commission’s 2024 approach, which seeks to align competition enforcement with the EU’s digital, green and industrial policy priorities while safeguarding a well-functioning Single Market:
  • supports the Commission’s efforts to enhance the effectiveness and predictability of competition rules, including the development of new guidelines on exclusionary abuses of dominance, the modernised Market Definition Notice, and improved tools to assess consumer welfare impacts;
  • stresses the importance of strong and effective enforcement in digital markets, both under traditional competition rules and through the growing application of the Digital Markets Act.;
  • calls for stronger merger control, including a framework to scrutinise below-threshold acquisitions that may harm competition (e.g. “killer acquisitions”), and urges greater consideration of labour market impacts and innovation dynamics in merger assessments;
  • highlights the need for State aid rules to promote cross-border participation, reduce fragmentation and support strategic investments essential for the Clean Industrial Deal, while ensuring cohesion and a level playing field across Member States.

Read the opinion.

 

Additional information

Section: Single Market, Production and Consumption

Opinion number: INT/1096

Opinion type: Referral from the European Commission

Rapporteur: Andrea Mone

Reference: (COM(2025) 181 final)

Date of adoption by section: 14/11/2025

Result of the vote: 81 in favour/0 against/1 abstentions

Date of adoption in plenary: 3/12/2025

Result of the vote in plenary: 220 in favour/1 against/3 abstentions.

Contacts

Press officer: Flavia Badircea/Laura Lui

Tel.: +32 2 546 9189

Email: laurairena.lui@eesc.europa.eu

Administrator: Silvia Staffa

Tel.: + 32 2 546 8378

Email: silvia.staffa@eesc.europa.eu