Britannia Radio

Good evening,

Today's announcement of Joaquin Almunia as the new competition commissioner presents an urgently needed opportunity to establish competition policy that punishes wrongdoers and deters future violations - without putting European companies and employees out of work. The EC's current competition policy, which imposes excessively high fines and lacks due process, is costing jobs when Europe's unemployment is at the highest in more than 10 years and is expected to continue to rise. In fact, unemployment is expected to be one of the major obstacles of Europe's economic recovery. The cost of disproportionate punishment - in lost jobs, lost capital investment, and lack of innovation - is too high. No country can sustain it.

For your reference, below are two articles that address how the new commissioner will face the issue of high fines and due process:

http://www.euractiv.com/en/future-eu/spain-almunia-faces-tough-task-eu-antitrust-job/article-187765


http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aFAeZtBYA6XI&pos=7