Brussels, 11/12/2003 (Agence Europe) - On the sidelines of the European Day for Competition in Rome on Tuesday, Commissioner Monti pointed out that improving the test for assessing dominant positions, which is part of the reforms introduced to the Merger Regulation whose entry into force is planned for May 2004, was to bring in more legal security. Mario Monti thus answered criticism voiced by some experts whereby the new text would expose the Commission to a large number of appeals being made at the Court of Justice due to certain clauses that are difficult to implement in practice. According to the Commissioner, the new text will, however, make the way merger controls should apply "crystal clear".
Speaking of the problem of selling broadcasting rights for British Premier League matches (Ed.: the Commission plans to reopen the file, considering that competition has not yet been effectively re-established despite the fact that BskyB has been granted all these rights for three years). Mr Monti specified that "the exclusivity of a contract does not necessarily hurt competition, but the duration and the scope can create more serious problems and shut down the market (…) With regard to duration, the Commission maintains that contracts of one season are generally acceptable".
On the subject of EDF, Mario Monti confirmed he was planning to suggest that the College of Commissioners, on 16 December this year, close the procedure with a request for reimbursement by EDF to the French State of a sum that they believe constitutes State aid. He specified saying: "we still need a few days to determine the amount", which would be "several hundreds of million euros". The Commission added that the most important aspect of the decision was, however, the elimination of the unlimited State guarantee which is currently enjoyed by EDF in its capacity as an EPIC ("Etablissement public à caractère industriel et commercial").
With dossiers such as Alstom, Bull and EDF, Mario Monti is offending French sensitivity somewhat. On 8 December in Paris, when he had just received the award for best "regulator" of the year from the magazine "Le Nouvel Ecoomiste", in the presence of French Finance Minister Francis Mer and President of the National Assembly Jean-Louis Debré, he defended himself stressing that decisions by European competition services are based on the Republican principles of "liberté, égalité, fraternité" (in English: freedom, equality, brotherhood).
"I like to think that this prize is political recognition of competition work", he stressed. In his view, "large and small member States must not have the same weight for establishing rules, but no distinction must be made when applying them".