Draft merger guidelines: can we ensure dynamic and innovative markets flourish in Europe?

The European Commission’s draft merger guidelines are one of the most important ongoing debates in European policy. Nearly two decades have passed since the guidelines were last reviewed, and the new draft draws upon years of practice and precedent — reassessing core concerns around market power and consumer harm in today’s digitalised, networked economy, where innovation is central to sustainable growth.

In this episode of Top of the Agenda, Helen Jenkins is joined by Guillaume Loriot, Deputy Director-General for Mergers at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Competition, and Massimo Motta, Research Professor of Economics at ICREA, Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), and the Barcelona School of Economics. Together they discuss the draft guidelines and how greater emphasis might be placed on innovation, resilience, investment incentives, industrial scale, and Europe’s global competitiveness, all alongside the core aim of merger control: protecting the long-term interests of consumers.