Report on Competition Policy 2024

Key points

The EESC:

• welcomes the Commission’s 2024 enforcement approach, which aligns competition policy with the EU’s digital, green, and resilience objectives while safeguarding a well-functioning and competitive 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;
• emphasises the importance of addressing competition challenges in digital markets and encourages the Commission to continue reinforcing enforcement under both traditional competition rules and the Digital Markets Act, given the structural dominance and entry barriers in platform-based business models;
• 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—particularly the new CISAF framework and IPCEI processes—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.

For more information please contact the INT Section Secretariat.