Modernising European Competition Policy

The question whether trade policy instruments are fit for coping with the rise of state capitalism and a new dimension of state subsidies is already been discussed intensively in trade policy debates. Whether in this context competition law might also need to be updated and whether this should encompass new instruments are less debated questions which the first panel will address.

The second panel will build on this and discuss whether (and how) competition law needs to be updated with a view to ongoing digitization of the economy, seeing that digital technologies not only change the structure of markets but also open up new levels of strategic global competition. Access to data or digital infrastructure are important facets of this discussion in which Europe needs to find its own answers.