BARCELONA — The EU’s revised merger guidelines will not offer a free pass for European industries to consolidate, the bloc’s competition chief Teresa Ribera told POLITICO.
The European Commission has nearly completed its revamp of the bloc’s merger rules, which is due to be published on May 2. Departmental consultations of the 100-page draft guidelines began this week.
“We cannot use merger operations as a substitute for market integration,” Ribera said in an interview on the sidelines of the Global Progressive Mobilization summit in Barcelona on Friday.
Ribera, who as executive vice president ranks second to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, enforces antitrust policy across the 27-nation bloc. Her comments contrast with her boss’ calls to nurture European business “champions” that can hold their own against China’s world-beating exporters and U.S. tech titans.
The Spanish commissioner said that the industrial restructuring of sectors like telecoms was impeded by the fragmentation of national markets, and not the bloc’s merger rules.
“It needs to be proven that there are benefits we will be enjoying in the time to come. And not just: I want to be big,” she said.
Ribera also issued a pointed warning to member countries tempted to use the guidelines’ new resilience and security exceptions to pick domestic winners.
“We also invite national competition authorities and national governments to make a very self-restrained understanding of what this could mean,” she said.
Her remarks follow Italy’s intervention in Milan-based UniCredit’s bid for local rival Banco BPM, and the conditions set by the Spanish government on BBVA’s attempts to acquire Sabadell. Both triggered Commission legal proceedings on the grounds that the respective governments were breaching EU rules on the freedom of establishment and movement of capital.
Ribera said that in order for resilience, sustainability and innovation arguments to be accepted, upfront criteria would apply. Each would have to be demonstrated concretely, she added.
The commissioner also promised more, earlier structured engagement between companies and officials.
The progressive summit at which Ribera spoke brought together left-wing parties and movements from more than 100 countries for its inaugural gathering in Barcelona. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum are due to address a plenary session on Saturday.
