Brussels, 02/12/2002 (Agence Europe) - The day after adoption by the Council (EUROPE of 27 November, p.10, 25/26 November, p.15), Competition Commissioner Mario Monti presented to the EP's Economic and Monetary Committee the essential elements of reform initiated in connection to competition. He gave his assurance that the task would relieve them of "the daily management of competition", and cited the major decisions taken that same day as an example, namely the imposition of fines relating to a merger in the plasterboard sector and another in the methylglucamine sector (EUROPE of 28 November, p.13). Mr Monti stressed that the reform of Articles 81 and 82 would show that the idea often "put about" that the Commission is jealous of its powers and reticent about any form of decentralisation is unfounded. Such reform is a "Commission initiative (…) No-one had asked it to give up its powers, and it was even difficult to convince the Member States!" (Ed.: Reform of Articles 81 and 82 of Regulation 4064/89 provides for decentralisation towards national competition authorities when implementing these articles). This "revolution" should result in a "cooperation culture" between the national and Community authorities, Mr Monti said, while assuring that reforms will not result in re-nationalisation of the European regulations on competition. Concerning the recent cancellations of the Commission's decisions by the Court of First Instance (CFI), Mr Monti declared that his services were closely studying the rulings to see if there was cause for appeal and to "draw the consequences for the future". "These rulings (Ed.: Airtours/First Choice) are not made on ground that has never been touched by reform. The result will be the presentation of radical reform on 11 December", he continued, adding that one should not lose sight, however, of the advantages of the European system characterised by its rapidity. "The trouble is, there is sometimes a nervous frenzy between the parties concerned. I do not, therefore, wish to reduce these delays, but rather bring in more flexibility". From the jurisdictional point of view, the Court's decisions show that "the Court of Justice has meticulous and rigorous basic control, but must be more effective. As far as time limits are concerned, there is still room for improvement", was the view expressed by Professor Monti, who said he was "ready to give strong support to the granting of new resources to the Court of Justice" in order to achieve a still swifter and more transparent system, in order to "make the best system in the world".
The Commissioner then submitted to questions put by MEPs. Giorgios Katiforus (Socialist, Greece) placed emphasis on the "attacks made by a certain section of the press", reflecting the interests of large companies. He stressed the "counter-productive effect" of mergers (salary freezing, restructuring and job losses). "When times are hard, the behaviour of companies and of governments coincides" in calling for "broader" use of State aid, Mr Monti noted. Hence, he said, such reforms are needed in order to have irrefutable rules in order to defend the economic system as a whole. Mr Philippe Herzog (United Left, France) expressed concern about the risk of destabilising competition policy, the rules of which are difficult to combine with corporate concerns. He asked Mr Monti how one can guarantee "coherence". In reply, Mr Monti said that one of the elements of reform would consist in giving companies the possibility of highlighting the advantages resulting from their merger. Commission President Christa Randzio-Plath (Social Democrat, Germany) regretted that mergers are synonymous with job losses: "Is it compatible with the objectives of Lisbon with regards jobs", she asked. Mr Monti recognised that mergers "are not always successful", with growth ambitions often taking the place of other aims, and the consequences on employment are a "major and tricky" problem. French Socialist Pervenche Berès questioned Mr Monti on the contradiction that exists, she says, between the very short times for analysis, which are detrimental to the rights of the defence, and those of justice, which are "excessively long". Mr Monti said he was aware of how difficult it was for the Court to have a sufficient number of judges, while considering that expedited procedure was an improvement. "We shall introduce more flexibility in the 'timing' and strengthen the role of advisers-auditors", he added, while admitting that the parties hoped to be kept better informed of the complaints filed by their rivals. Luis Berenguer-Fuster (Socialist, Spain) welcomed the Council's approval of reform, but asked whether, in anti-cartel action, fines are an adequate deterrent. In his view, "structural reforms would perhaps be more dissuasive than fines". The Commissioner recalled that there were well-defined criteria governing the amount of fines, such as the seriousness of the infringement, the market share and the size of the company involved.