EU Merger Control – Results and Challenges in the Context of Globalisation

In the context of globalisation and EU Member States’ efforts to return to a sustainable growth path, merger control by the European Commission guarantees the development of companies in a dynamic way in order to become stronger and more competitive, both on the EU Internal Market and global markets. However, some mergers may reduce competition in the market to the detriment of EU businesses and consumers, in particular by the creation or strengthening of dominant positions in the relevant markets. The central objective of EU merger control, as an important tool of EU competition policy and law, is to effectively prevent mergers from resulting in anticompetitive effects în the Internal Market. This article focuses on the main components of merger control system and the implications of enforcing the rules in this field for exploiting the full growth potential offered by the EU Internal Market, and for achieving the key goals of the Europe 2020 Strategy. The experience of over ten years of the European Commission has shown that there is scope for further improving certain areas of EU merger control and the White Paper published by the Commission in July 2014 outlines the steps towards making control procedures simpler and more efficient.