National meddling presents serious challenge to Brussels

The European Commission has regularly courted controversy by blocking mergers and takeovers. Now, the Commission has learnt that defending such deals can be just as hard. The Commission could only look on in frustration as Spain's Abertis and Autostrade, the Italian motorway operator, abandoned in December 2006 a €25bn ($33bn) merger that would have created a new pan-European infrastructure group. The article analyses this and other cases where the European Commission struggles to implement its mergers and takeover powers in the face of opposition by national governments and regulators.