Brussels, 29/09/2009 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 29 September, Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes defended the performance of her department in 2008. “Given the terrible strains of the past year, it is a real achievement that our single market has remained intact. But it has, and we owe our unique competition system a great deal of thanks for that,” she told the European Parliament economic and monetary affairs committee.
The Commissioner was presenting the report published by DG Competition for 2008 to MEPs. This report sets out the Commission activities in competition and state aid during 2008, and sheds light on the development of Commission policies, particularly on the guidelines introduced in response to the economic crisis, sectoral investigations and new arrangements in tackling illegal agreements.
Kroes said that the single market and the institutions that maintain it had played an important role in mitigating the effects of the economic and financial crisis that hit last year, by applying “firm principles with flexible processes”. The Commission's rapid and decisive cooperation with the European Central Bank, national central banks and member states themselves had brought “the legal certainty needed for bail-outs and a measure of stability in the financial sector”, she said. However, she stressed that highlighting the considerable support given to the financial sector “should not be used as an excuse” to provide the same level of assistance to other sectors. The former is a “special case” which represents the economy's “lifeblood” and, therefore, merits the special attention paid to it. The Commissioner highlighted the importance of ensuring that the temporary framework put in place to manage state aid did not become permanent: “The Commission is committed to keeping it temporary in nature,” she said.
On anti-cartel sanctions, Kroes referred to the figures contained in the report, particularly the €2.24 billion in fines on 34 companies in 2008 and the €1.24 billion (from eight companies in two separate cases) hitherto in 2009. She also pointed out that cartels placed a surcharge on consumers (including other companies which purchase the goods involved), estimated at €7.6 billion between 2005 and 2007. The Commission estimates that for each cartel punished, five others are dissuaded from putting their plans into operation, meaning tens of billions of euro saved by consumers, a figure which, the Commissioner said, amply justified the €100 million spent annually by the Commission on its operations in this area. The text of the 2008 annual report is available at: http: //ec.europa.eu/competition/publications/annual_report.index.html (C.D./transl.rt)