GCLC Press Release
The GCLC has published a press release on the proposed removal (see earlier post) of the commitment to "undistorted competition" from the EC Treaty:
PRESS RELEASE:
The Global Competition Law Centre expresses its serious concerns about the proposed removal of the notion of undistorted competition from the objectives of the EC Treaty.
The Global Competition Law Centre (GCLC), a body formed within the College of Europe and gathering together practitioners and academics in law and economics, has learned with great concern that the European Council is considering the removal of the commitment to undistorted competition from the objectives of the European Union as currently listed in Article 3 of the EC Treaty.
The GCLC wishes to underline that the principle of undistorted competition is one of the core guarantees of the system of market economy that is promoted and protected by the Treaty. This principle is the bedrock on which the competition law provisions comprised in the Treaty and in secondary legislation are based. Such provisions contribute to the creation of an internal market unrestrained by anti-competitive practices and foster the protection of consumer welfare through the maintenance of effective competition and competitive prices.
The GCLC calls on the responsibility of European Heads of State and draws their attention to the extremely serious consequences that the removal of the principle of undistorted competition from the objectives of the Treaty could have on the long-term welfare of Community citizens as well as on the competitiveness of the European economy as a whole at a time of growing economic rivalry between trade blocks. Even beyond this, open and undistorted competition within Europe has been over the past fifty years – and still is – a guarantee of free economic initiative and, ultimately, of economic democracy.
See below for a pdf. version of the document.
Damien
Comments