By Foo Yun Chee
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – EU competition policy should be revamped to help companies scale up and better compete in global markets, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Thursday, an indication that she may loosen the bloc’s merger rules if she gets another term.
“I believe we need a new approach to competition policy, better geared to our common goals and more supportive of companies scaling up in global markets – while always ensuring a level playing field,” she said in a document setting out her programme at the European Parliament.
“This should be reflected in the way we assess mergers so that innovation and resilience are fully taken into account,” she said.
Telecoms providers have long called for easier rules for national mergers amid the EU competition watchdog’s concerns about deals that reduce the number of players from four to three.
EU lawmakers will vote later in the day on granting von der Leyen another five-year term as head of the European Commission.
Von der Leyen said EU antitrust regulators will ramp up the enforcement of the Digital Markets Act aimed at reining in the power of Big Tech, and the Digital Services Act which requires online intermediaries and platforms to do more to police illegal and harmful online content.
(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee, editing by Bart Meijer)
