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European Commissioner for Competition

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The Commissioner for Competition is the member of the European Commission. The current commissioner is Neelie Kroes (ALDE).

The portfolio has responsibility for such matters as commercial competition, company mergers, cartels, state aid and anti-trust law. It became the sole merge authority for the European Economic Area in September 1990.

The Competition Commissioner is one of the most powerful positions in the Commission and is notable in affecting global companies.[1] For example notably preventing the merge of two US companies, General Electric and Honeywell, in 2001.[2] In 2007 Neelie Kroes was the only Commissioner to make Forbes list of the 100 most powerful women, she held position 59.[3]

Current commissioner

During her hearing at the European Parliament, MEPs expressed concern about whether Ms Kroes had a sufficiently detailed grasp of certain specific subjects, but was approved as part of the Commission in 2004.

Since then she states that she promotes a fair and free business environment, achieving sustainable economic growth and higher employment. The Commission has been involved in a number of high profile cases fighting anticompetitive behaviour; such as the case against the merger of Sony - BMG, against Apple Inc. regarding iTunes [4] and the ongoing case against Microsoft.

The latter has been an on going dispute on a number of issues, in April 2007 Microsoft became the first company to refuse to comply with the Commissions rulings, in response Commissioner Kroes is looking at more harsher methods to gain the cooperation of companies; "We have never, ever before encountered a company that has refused to comply with commission decisions ... We learned we may have to look for a more effective remedy." [5] In September 2007, the Court of First Instance (EU's second highest court) upheld the Commission's decision to fine Microsoft 497 million euro and its order for to Microsoft for it to share its information setting what the Commission described as an "important precedent". Kroes stated that "Today's court ruling…shows that the Commission was right to take its decision, and right to take firm action to enforce that decision". Either party may appeal to the European Court of Justice.[6] In response to the ruling the US Justice Departments top antitrust official, Thomas Barnett, criticised the ruling which sparked a response from Kroes stating that "It is totally unacceptable that a representative of the US administration criticises an independent court of law outside its jurisdiction ... It is absolutely not on. The European Commission does not pass judgement on rulings by US courts and we expect the same degree of respect from US authorities for rulings by EU courts."[7]

Mario Monti (1999-2004)

Commissioner Monti is particularly notable for his ruling during the GE-Honeywell merger attempt in 2001. General Electric, a US company, sought to acquire another US company, Honeywell. This merger had been approved by US authorities, however Monti, with the backing of the rest of the Commission, rejected the merger[8];

The merger between GE and Honeywell, as it was notified, would have severely reduced competition in the aerospace industry and resulted ultimately in higher prices for customers, particularly airlines. However, there were ways of eliminating these concerns and allowing the merger to proceed. I regret that the companies were not able to agree on a solution that would have met the Commission's competition concerns.

Rather than be blocked from the European market, the merger was abandoned. This was the first time that a merger between two US companies had been blocked solely by European authorities, [9] only the second time it had blocked just two US companies and only the 15th merger it had blocked ever since it started work.[10] On 1 May 2004 Monti oversaw a radical change in the Competition powers of the Commission concerning anti-trust regulation, merger controls, licensing agreements and air transport.[11]

List of commissioners

Kroes is due to stand down in 2009 with the Barroso Commission, but may resign before then.

See also

References

  1. ^ Lungescu, Oana (2004-07-23). "Examining the EU executive". BBC News. Retrieved 2007-09-18. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. ^ The Commission prohibits GE's acquisition of Honeywell europa.eu
  3. ^ 100 Most Powerful Women Forbes
  4. ^ Brussels Accuses iTunes of Violating Competition Rules spiegel.de
  5. ^ Microsoft dispute a lesson, EU says seattletimes.nwsource.com
  6. ^ Microsoft case sets precedent, says Brussels EU observer
  7. ^ Spongenberg, Helena (2007-09-20) US remarks on Microsoft ruling 'unacceptable', says Kroes, EU Observer
  8. ^ The Commission prohibits GE's acquisition of Honeywell europa.eu
  9. ^ Honeywell CEO's job reported on line after takeover is rejected money.cnn.com
  10. ^ The Commission prohibits GE's acquisition of Honeywell europa.eu
  11. ^ The EU gets new competition powers for the 21st century ec.europa.eu
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