Brussels, 13/07/2011 (Agence Europe) - The year 2010 was important for the Commission in enforcing and reforming EU competition rules, in the interest of both consumers and businesses, according to the 2007 report on competition policy (http://www.ec.europa.eu/competition/publications/annual_report/index.html ).
In 2010, the Commission issued over 400 state aid decisions. The majority of approved aid was aimed at promoting objectives of common European interest, such as research, development and innovation, regional cohesion or environment protection. In the banking sector, the Commission dealt with the restructuring plans of, among others, Franco-Belgian bank Dexia, Belgian insurer Ethias, Aegon of the Netherlands, Parex of Latvia and Sparkasse Köln/Bonn1 of Germany. In 2010, the Commission fined 70 companies nearly €3 billion in seven cartel decisions. The Commission adopted 270 merger decisions, of which 16 required the parties to amend their proposed merger plans. In the field of antitrust, the Commission adopted new rules, both for agreements between companies operating at the same and at different levels of the supply chain. The Commission also adopted new rules in the insurance field and for agreements between car manufacturers and their authorised dealers, repairers and spare parts distributors. (L.C./transl.fl)