Report on Competition Policy 2018 - Related Opinions

The report presents the main legislative initiatives and policy developments in 2024, as well as a selection of important enforcement actions.

The Report on Competition policy, published annually, provides detailed information on the most important policy and legislative initiatives, and on decisions adopted by the European Commission in application of EU competition law during the previous year.

The Report on Competition Policy for 2021 presents the key policy developments and legislative initiatives undertaken in 2021, as well as a selection of enforcement actions.

The EESC welcomes the European Commission's decision to prolong the State aid Temporary Framework stemming from the pandemic. However, these measures are too exceptional for them to be extended to the general framework and therefore become permanent.

The EESC endorses the Commission proposal and agrees that action must be taken to bolster the instruments safeguarding the EU market and its businesses. This will entail plugging a gap in the legislative framework as regards competition, trade and public procurement with a view to guaranteeing fair competition which is not distorted by foreign subsidies. Some aspects of the intrinsically complex and far-reaching legislative mechanism need to be further refined.

The EESC considers an effective and principled competition policy to be one of the pillars of the European Union and an essential tool in achieving the internal market, pursuant to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the construction of a social market economy and the implementation of the European Pillar of Social RightsEESC.

The European Union competition policy has been in place for over sixty years. This annual report on competition policy is a non-exhaustive summary of activities undertaken by the Commission in the field of competition policy over the year 2017.

Traditionally, the EESC in its opinion comments on the main achievements and suggests improvements.

The EESC supports the Report on Competition Policy for 2016 on the whole, but believes that EU competition policy requires better definition and that it is often out of step with other EU policies that influence it.  It also calls on the Commission to establish genuinely effective corrective measures in the area of mergers and concentrations.

The EESC welcomes the 2015 Report and considers it fundamental to have a competition policy that ensures a level playing field in all sectors. Imports based on unfair competition constitute a danger to European businesses. Anti-dumping measures are essential to save jobs and protect the economy.