The report by René Repasi (S&D, German) on European competition policy in 2022 (see EUROPE 13169/20) was adopted on Tuesday 13 April by 428 votes to 147 with 55 abstentions. The rapporteur, who presented his report to the plenary in the presence of Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager on Monday 12 June, said it was essential to protect the single market, the “beating heart of the EU”.
In terms of State aid, Mr Repasi stressed the need for public investment, but hoped that this would not be carried out exclusively at national level, at the expense of the internal market. He also called for flexibility in the application of the rules on State aid, which should be accompanied by European funds accessible to Member States with less budgetary room for manoeuvre.
In addition, the MEP would like to see a revision of the merger control regulation. For René Repasi, a competition policy that protects healthy market structures and allows innovative competitors to enter the market requires structural tools and remedies, as well as legal bases that allow dominant groups to be split up when innovative companies are threatened by mergers of large companies.
Finally, quoting ECB President Christine Lagarde (see EUROPE 13194/16), the MEP felt that competition policy had a role to play in investigating the excessive profits of certain companies which were contributing to the current inflationary pressure.
Dita Charanzová (Renew Europe, Czech), Vice-Chairwoman of the European Parliament’s Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO), said that the committee considered it vital that competition policy should serve and protect consumers and the single market. In times of crisis, not all States have the same capabilities.
She called for a level playing field to be maintained in both digital and physical markets, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises.
Link to the draft report: https://aeur.eu/f/7gs (Original version in French by Émilie Vanderhulst)