Merger task force boss tipped for promotion despite court defeats

Date: 31/10/02

By Peter Chapman

THE head of the European Commission's merger task force, Götz Drauz, is still in line to be promoted to deputy director-general of the competition directorate - despite two major court defeats last week which prompted Competition Commissioner Mario Monti to postpone the decision.

The Luxembourg-based Court of First Instance delivered a final crushing blow to the Commission's merger control policy last Friday - ruling that the EU executive had failed to prove that the merger of packaging firms Tetra Laval and Sidel would have been bad for competition.

This followed a decision on 22 October, ruling that the Commission had erred in its analysis of the merger of French electrical firms Schneider and Legrand - and had denied the companies a proper right of defence.

The decisions complete an embarrassing hat trick of defeats; last June the court overruled the Commission's veto of a merger between UK tour operators Airtours and First Choice.

But Drauz's bosses say he will not be made the scapegoat - even though all three defeats were during his 'watch' as director of the merger task force, the department responsible for establishing the Commission's case against a merger.

Things looked bleak for Drauz last Friday after Monti announced he was putting on ice plans to create a new 'deputy director general for merger control'.

Philip Lowe, the director-general, will take the job himself, 'pending a wider reorganisation' of DG Competition.

However, Lowe told European Voice that Drauz was still 'a contender' for this post when it eventually comes up for grabs, after Monti has finalised reforms to merger policy set to be unveiled in December.

Lowe denied that promoting the German would amount to him being 'kicked upstairs', with less direct responsibility for scrutinising cases.

He said the new deputy, as well as the two current ones (Claude Chêne, state aids, and Gianfranco Rocca, cartels), are expected to have a 'hands-on' role.

'I am at the back, sweeping the ball from the goal,' added Lowe, who took over as head of the directorate from Alex Schaub on 1 September.

The head of the European Commission's merger task force, Götz Drauz, is still in line to be promoted to deputy director-general of the competition directorate - despite two major court defeats which prompted Competition Commissioner Mario Monti to postpone the decision.