Europe's merger monitor
The European Commission's merger regime is under attack. In this invited article, Mario Monti, the competition commissioner, offers his response
THE Merger Regulation, the first Europe-wide merger-control law, has been in force for more than 12 years. This innovative piece of legislation gave the European Commission the exclusive jurisdiction to examine large, cross-border mergers in Europe, within tight deadlines, so as to assess their likely impact on competition. This has served to facilitate corporate restructuring in Europe, by ensuring regulatory clearance within a timetable that corresponds to the needs of business. Merger control is as important today as when it was first introduced, and our system has served Europe well. However, like all systems, it is in need of constant revision, to ensure it can meet evolving challenges.
This article appeared in the By Invitation section of the print edition under the headline “Europe's merger monitor”
By Invitation November 9th 2002
More from By Invitation
![](https://www.economist.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=1424,quality=80,format=auto/content-assets/images/20240909_BID001.jpg)
Clearing Ukraine’s mines is crucial for global food security, say Howard Buffett and Tony Blair
With the right sort of technology and financing, it needn’t take a century
![](https://www.economist.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=1424,quality=80,format=auto/content-assets/images/20230909_BID002.jpg)
Mario Draghi outlines his plan to make Europe more competitive
The continent needs investment on a par with the Marshall Plan and a lot more innovation, says the former central banker
![](https://www.economist.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=1424,quality=80,format=auto/content-assets/images/20240903_BID002.jpg)
Large language models will upend human rituals
The results could be disturbing, argue Marion Fourcade and Henry Farrell
Kamala Harris has good vibes. Time for some good policies
Steven Teles, a political scientist, on the three Ps that the Democratic nominee should focus on
Break the taboos propping up unsustainable debt, pleads a former central banker
Murtaza Syed on overcoming fear of restructuring, cajoling creditors and encouraging the IMF to be candid
Mark Zuckerberg and Daniel Ek on why Europe should embrace open-source AI
It risks falling behind because of incoherent and complex regulation, say the two tech CEOs