Guidance allowing companies to collaborate with rivals on investment. A regime to police potentially worrying mergers after they are approved, rather than before. New principles to vet corporate tie-ups on an EU-wide basis, instead of reviewing market power at the national level.
Of all the 400 pages of Mario Draghi’s report on European competitiveness, the recommendations directed at the EU’s antitrust division — long seen as the vanguard of Brussels regulation — are some of the most radical.
If the approach were adopted, the former European Central Bank governor was clear about the potential result: a green light for deals such as the train megamerger between France’s Alstom and Siemens of Germany, which was blocked by Brussels in 2019.