Brussels, 23/05/2002 (Agence Europe) - As we pointed out earlier, Commissioner Mario Monti presented the Commission's annual report on competition for 2001 to the EP Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs. The year 2001 was marked by "very intense activity", said the Commissioner. The main points of the report concern:
Anti-trust policy: Activities were marked by the Council debate on the Commission's proposal aimed at modernising rules of procedure which, as Mr Monti hopes, should be adopted by the end of this year. The Commission also published a draft communication on measures of leniency with regards fines, that came into effect in February. Regarding action against cartels, the "scourge of modern society", 2001 was a milestone year with ten negative decisions adopted against 65 companies for a total of around EUR 1.8 billion in fines. Evoking the Commission's wish to intensify the fight against cartels and to employ more human and material resources for this, Mr Monti stressed that "these results are the first to come from the Commission's action". He also pointed out that the Commission continued to carry out inquiries into the price of beer in Belgium and Luxembourg.
Mergers: For the first time since 1993, the number of concentrations notified fell last year to 335 as opposed to 345 in 2000. Such transactions remain, however, frequent and are characterised by growing complexity. The Commissioner stressed in this respect that simplified procedure is useful as it has allowed expedited investigation into cases which did not show any obvious signs of presenting competition problems. Forty-five percent of clearances were granted through simplified procedure, said Mr Monti.
State aid: Compared to 2000, the number of cases notified fell 30% last year (45% for non-notified cases). A clear improvement was noted regarding transparency thanks to the Scoreboard and Register on State aid. These two instruments will make it possible to control the reduction and redirection of State aid in accordance with the wish expressed by the Stockholm Council and confirmed by that in Barcelona.
Enlargement: 2001 was an important year for accession negotiations on the "competition" chapter. Commissioner Monti nonetheless deplores the existence in candidate countries of State aid that is incompatible with European rules, mainly aid which is aimed at attracting foreign direct investment. This problem is one of the main stumbling blocks in negotiations, he stressed.
International and multilateral cooperation: Two sketches of multilateral cooperation are currently under way: - on one hand the adoption, in the wake of the WTO ministerial conference in Doha, of a Declaration on the interaction between trade and competition policy ("There is now a clear commitment to launch negotiations with a view to a multilateral commitment", the Commissioner was pleased to note, specifying that a first meeting is scheduled for 2003 on this); - and, on the other hand, the launching in October 2001 of the International Competition Network (ICN), which will allow more systematic dialogue between national authorities that have questions to raise on the main guidelines of competition policy (the first meeting will be held in Naples in September this year).
2002 programme: The following points are on the agenda for the current year: 1) continued dialogue at international level and with candidate countries; 2) continued work on the new rules regarding antitrust procedure and the implementation of the Network with national competition authorities; 3) the conclusion of reform on the Mergers Regulation; 4) ongoing general activity, with special attention being paid to operations in the telecommunications, rail and energy sectors.
During the exchange of views with Mr Monti, Alain Lipietz (Greens, France), rapporteur on competition, raised the question of prices and the very clear influence that cartels have on pricing. "We strongly support the Commission in its fight against cartels and we call for even greater powers also against small traders who practice slashed prices", he remarked. The Commissioner said he agreed about the fight against small monopolies, but categorically rejected the parliamentarian's idea of authorising small levels of concentration to offset market shortcomings. Philippe Herzog (United Left, France), Rapporteur on State aid, mainly raised the problem of State aid exemptions in candidate countries, evoking the need for these countries lagging behind in productivity to benefit from certain aid schemes to help them "catch up" economically.
Christoph Konrad (CDU, Germany), Rapporteur on the Commission's proposal on automobile distribution, raised the question of the "location clause" (which allows manufacturers to closely survey the geographical location of its retailers), and proposed that the Commission should suspend this clause until 2005 (instead of 1 October 2003), establishing a period of transition that allows clearer assessment of how useful the clause is before it is possibly abolished. Mr Monti said he was "willing to reflect on a longer transition period", but only for this clause. "A decision must be taken now and not in years to come", he remarked, stressing, moreover, that he had been "unpleasantly surprised" by the powerful lobbying attempts made on his services.
Mr Monti compared the automobile lobby campaign against his proposals, with its virulence and "gloomy scenarios", with that of the time when "duty free" was abolished. His proposals, he repeated, are certainly not directed against the car sector, while being made in the interest of consumers (even if they do not go as far as some would like, he admitted). Mr Monti also deplored the alarm raised in security matters by those who claim security would be threatened if the link between maker and maintenance garage were made more flexible. We recall that the Konrad report will be voted during plenary on 29 and 30 May, in Brussels.
Alexander Radwan (CSU, Germany) asked whether there was any contradiction between competition and industrial policy and asked the Commissioner how he planned to deal with competition policy in the future. Mr Monti feels these two policies are "complementary" and that there is a "fully sufficient degree of cooperation" between them. Robert Goebbels (PES, Luxembourg), for his part, drew the Commissioner's attention to the importance of the danger of cartels in the energy sector, and Mr Monti admitted the great danger that existed in a sector in full liberalisation. "We try to remain vigilant about what is happening in the sectors recently liberalised such as the electricity sector", he thus stressed. Bruno Trentin (PES, Italy) spoke of the Green Paper on the social accountability of companies in parallel with the Green Paper on services by Commissioner Monti. "Compatibility must be found (…). A bridge must be made between the two Green Papers", he said. "This is a problem", admitted Mario Monti, adding: "we shall take European norms into account regarding worker consultation during the next review of the notification rules". Finally, Armonia Bordes (United Left, France) was highly critical of the disastrous consequences of mergers which "lead the working class into poverty". "The EU must do more to create jobs", admitted Mr Monti, saying he was sure that "modern capitalism" should not run counter to the interests of consumers and that "competition policy will contribute in the medium and long term to job creation" while "other European policies must also be mobilised".