On Monday 6 November, the European Consumers Organisation (BEUC) sent a letter to the European Commissioner for Competition, Didier Reynders, urging the European Commission not to give in to what the NGO identifies as pressure to relax or water down the implementation of European merger control rules.
BEUC is alarmed by the increase in mergers in many sectors, acquisitions that can lead to higher price levels, as well as less choice for consumers and less innovation.
In particular, the association’s members are concerned about calls from the telecoms sector to relax the European merger control rules. BEUC believes that competition between telecoms service providers is the best incentive to invest in infrastructure.
In particular, the European consumer protection association would like the Commission to pursue theories of harm that take into account the reality of consumer markets rather than what it calls hypothetical models that correspond to incumbents’ narratives.
Finally, BEUC hopes that the Commission will continue to enforce the competition rules, not only in the digital platform markets, but also in more traditional markets such as telecommunications, airlines and groceries.
Link to the letter: https://aeur.eu/f/9ed (Original version in French by Émilie Vanderhulst)