Clash over plan for cartel office

Date: 21/03/1996

By Tim Jones

GERMAN attempts to wrest control of competition policy from the European Commission and into the hands of a new office threaten to spark a power struggle at the forthcoming Intergovernmental Conference.

The man responsible for enforcing the EU's anti-trust rules made it clear this week that he will fight any attempt to strip the Commission of the merger-vetting powers it has held for nearly 40 years.

“We are very much against it,” said Competition Commissioner Karel Van Miert. “Competition policy has been a very powerful engine for integration so it would not be a good idea to cut it into pieces: one piece for the Commission and the rest for a so-called independent competition authority.”

The German Bundeskartellamt has called for the creation of a new European cartel office to bring an end to the kind of political influence that can be brought to bear on the college of Commissioners when it considers sensitive competition cases.

This view is supported by elements of industry, most particularly in the area of policing government subsidies.

“We would welcome a more independent competition authority,” says Chris Allen of British Airways. “Although we are not unhappy with our relations with DGIV

(the Directorate-General responsible for competition), we believe that a truly independent authority would increase transparency.”

But in an interview with European Voice, Van Miert defended the Commission's independence and insisted he saw no need to apologise for sometimes looking at issues beyond rigid anti-trust law enforcement.

“Apart from strict competition considerations, it is natural and good that a body like the Commission can take into account other elements as well,” he said.

Industry is developing rapidly and new issues, including the need to prevent big companies shutting out competition in new markets such as online services or pay-television systems, could not have been foreseen by the drafters of the Treaty of Rome.

“Things are developing so quickly that the time is long gone that when you had a competition problem, you looked into a manual and found a solution,” said Van Miert, arguing his services should be able to tap into expertise in other parts of the Commission to help their investigations.

“Nobody should have the illusion that once 15 governments start to talk about a

so-called independent authority, they all won't want to have their man or their woman on the inside,” he said, adding: “Then, where will it be based? Given how long the discussion took over the headquarters for various other institutions, it might well be that in 2017, the cartel office will be based in Bulgaria.”

Denmark's shipbuilders have more reason than most to want a non-political eye cast over competition policy, since state aids to rival shipyards have accelerated the closure of several established companies.

Yet, they are sceptical about the German proposal.

“Even with an independent body, who makes the rules? And who will nominate the people who sit on it?” asks Thorkild Christensen, managing director of the Association of Danish Shipbuilders.

“The question is really: how much do you gain by moving these decisions away from the Commission, which is already meant to be independent?”

The German government is treading softly on the issue, particularly since the recent debacle over shipbuilder Bremer Vulkan and the misuse of state aid to its eastern yards.

“We are still in favour of the idea,” said a German official, “but we tend to be a little less vocal about it since we have already made Mr Van Miert angry enough lately.”