Changes from plenary report to adopted text

RemovedEXPLANATORY STATEMENT

RemovedThe 2024 Annual Competition Report serves as a key instrument to take stock of competition policy in the Union and is drawn up against the backdrop of a challenging economic and geopolitical context.

RemovedThe first section of the report, general considerations, recalls that EU competition seeks to shield against excessive levels of concentration and accumulations of market power. It acknowledges the key role of European competitiveness and welcomes the input of the Draghi and Letta reports.

RemovedThe ‘a competitive union’ section stresses that State aid granted should be consistent with EU policy objectives. It cautions for the fragmentation that may be caused by overreliance on national State aid. It reiterates the Draghi report’s call for substantial additional public and private investments, and underlines the important role of completion of the Capital Market Union herein.

RemovedThe next section of the report dwells on key demands as regards enforcement priorities, in which we take note of the suggestion of Draghi to introduce a new competition tool (NCT). It also asks the Commission to enforce exploitative abuse cases, and asks the Commission to assess the position of social services of general interest and an SGEI exemption for affordable housing.

RemovedRegarding mergers the report dwells on the implications of the recent Illuma-Grail case for the capacity of the Commission to address killer acquisitions. It asks the Commission to explore the possibility to review of the Merger Regulation with appropriate involvement of the Parliament. We also welcome the innovation defence while upholding that the Commission, in certain cases, should be enabled to invoke matters of public interest when assessing mergers.

RemovedThe sectoral policy section dwells inter alia on topical developments in the fields of taxation and digitalisation, and points out the continued over-concentration and over-reliance on certain third country service providers in the financial sector, as well as possible avenues to address these issues.

RemovedFinally the report asks for proper democratic involvement of the Parliament in shaping competition policy.