{"id":2321,"date":"2019-05-20T13:43:06","date_gmt":"2019-05-20T11:43:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.d-kart.de\/?p=2321"},"modified":"2019-05-20T19:31:59","modified_gmt":"2019-05-20T17:31:59","slug":"wettbewerbspolitische-programme-der-parteien-zur-europawahl-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.d-kart.de\/en\/blog\/2019\/05\/20\/wettbewerbspolitische-programme-der-parteien-zur-europawahl-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"The Competition-Competition: The German Parties’ Competition Policy Proposals to the 2019 European Parliament election"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In the 2019 European Parliament election, friends of antitrust law are looking forward to one question in particular: Are we seeing Margrethe Vestager again as the next President of the European Commission? That, however, is so speculative that we are entering more secure territory: Election promises. Maximilian Konrad has reviewed the party programmes for those for whom voting advice apps have too few questions on competition policy.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n


Brexit, refugee crisis, right-wing populism, euro crisis – there is no shortage of European policy issues. But what about European competition policy?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Time to\ntake a look at the German parties’ competition policy programmes. The parties have\na surprise or two in store, but also disappointment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are\napproaching the political arena strictly neutrally according to the electoral\nresults of the parties in the European election 2014 \u2013 let the show begin for\nthe Competition-Competition! <\/p>\n\n\n\n


CDU\/CSU (member of the European People\u2019s Party)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

“Competition\nfor Europe, European champions for the world.” This is how the competition\npolicy section of the CDU\/CSU European election programme<\/a> could be summarised in one\nsentence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After\npraising competition as the cornerstone of the social market economy, guarantor\nof improved products and creator of innovations, the last sentence of the section\non competition policy makes a sudden turn: Competition in Europe should be\nstrengthened, but in key areas the emergence of European champions must be made\npossible by “better cooperation” between companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde? Was Peter Altmaier’s National Industrial Strategy<\/a> the inspiration for this? Does the European ministerial approval<\/a> greet from afar? The elephant in the room<\/em> is, of course, China, to whom the last sentence calls a “tu quoque”. At the national level, the Miba\/Zollern ministerial approval will show how the Federal Minister of Economics, Peter Altmaier, regards the protection of competition. Those who want to know how competition in Europe is to be protected when “better cooperation” creates politically desired positions of dominance will have to vote for the CDU\/CSU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


SPD (member of the European Socialists)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The SPD<\/a> promotes international solidarity. The model\nfor the SPD’s strategic industrial policy is the “AIRBUS concept”,\nwhich has brought international competition on the aircraft market into being. (The\nfact that such a concept can cost taxpayers a lot of money, only recently several hundred million<\/a> euros for the development of the\nA-380, is only mentioned in passing. By the way, as early as 1988 Martin\nBangemann, a liberal Minister of Economics and later EU Commissioner for\nIndustrial Policy, had initiated the Daimler\/MBB merger, which was ultimately\napproved by ministerial approval, on the grounds that the Airbus risks had to\nbe passed on from the taxpayer to the private sector.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But back to\nthe present. In addition to an active industrial policy, the SPD programme criticises\nthe principle of competition. Even though the SPD wants to protect competition\nand democracy by regulating digital platform giants, above all the SPD\ncriticises the fact that \u201ethe economic ramifications oriented towards\ncompetition reach too deeply into society”. The public goods of education,\nhealth, local public transport, care and public infrastructure should therefore\nnot be left to the market. <\/p>\n\n\n\n


The Green Party (member of the European Green Party)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Green Party’s competition policy\nprogramme<\/a> is full\nof surprises. It begins with a great praise of competition: Fair competition\nensures technical and social innovations and prevents monopoly profits at the\nexpense of consumers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first\nsurprise: in order for European competition policy to meet the demands of the\nglobalised 21st century, the Greens call for an independent European antitrust authority\nthat takes account of the global market in non-European (sic!) mergers and does\nnot restrict itself to the European market. DG COMP as an independent European Antitrust\nAgency! (That global markets are examined where necessary \u2013 well, let\u2019s not\nfixate on that).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the view\nof the Greens, in the future, extra-competitive issue should also be taken into\naccount in merger control. This lesson is drawn from the Bayer\/Monsanto<\/em> merger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next\nsurprise: the proof of abuse of a dominant market position is “as a\nrule” not possible, which is why companies should in future also be split\nup notwithstanding of a proven market abuse if their market power is too big. In\nparticular, the “Facebook empire” created by the mergers with\nInstagram and Whatsapp is to be broken up by unbundling, and Google, Amazon and\nAirbnb are also threatened with stricter regulation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally,\nfair competition for the Greens also means preventing excessive wage\ncompetition within Europe. An independent committee should enforce a Europe-wide\nmaximum distance between the highest and lowest salary within a company in\norder to strengthen social cohesion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Courageous\nproposals – and by far the longest and most progressive competition policy\nprogramme. A background paper<\/a> by the Bundeskartellamt on the\nsubject of unbundling is recommended to interested readers (likewise the Greens\nmight want to consider a little more digging into the status quo).<\/p>\n\n\n\n


DIE LINKE (member of the European Left)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The LINKE<\/a> fears that if competition in the EU increases,\nthe strong regions will be strengthened and the weak regions weakened. For die LINKE,\nthe current discussion on \u201eIndustriepolitik\u201c (industrial policy) is therefore not\na coincidence, but an admission that the market has failed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The LINKE\ntherefore calls for “an industrial policy from the left for a social-ecological\ntransformation of the economy”. In addition to ending the austerity policy\nand strengthening domestic demand, for the LINKE this means promoting small\nbusinesses and businesses in the villages and inner cities in order to create\njobs. One might think that these are the objectives classically to be achieved\nby strengthening competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet, the\nLINKE relies on a coordinated European industrial policy, not competition, to distribute\nEU subsidies uniformly. The (future) plans of this industrial policy are to be\ndrawn up by “representatives of politics, trade unions, companies,\nscience, environmental associations and civil society”.  (At least the word \u201ccouncil\u201c is not mentioned here.)\nSpecifically left industrial policy means for the LINKE that targeted\ninvestments should be made in structurally weak and changing regions (*cough*East\nGermany*cough*). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In light of\nthis, one cannot complain about a lack of political alternatives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n


AfD (part of the new European group of right wing parties)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Talking\nabout alternatives, wasn’t that the AfD<\/a>‘s claim to be a political alternative to the\nparty cartel? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However: Nothing\nnew under the sun in competition policy. Like all other parties (sorry, SPD),\nthe AfD praises competition as a guarantor of technical progress and favourable\nconsumer prices, while – unsurprisingly – strictly refusing to sell out the\neconomy to China. The AfD also complains that an escalating bureaucracy is driving\ninnovation and investors away. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh yes, in\nthe event that fundamental reforms of the EU prove impossible, the AfD calls\nfor the unbundling of the European Union and DEXIT. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In order\nnot to expose D’Kart to the accusation of the abuse of media market power (catchword:\nfake news), let’s just leave it at that without further comment. Or is a\nno-comment-policy also a form of discrimination? <\/p>\n\n\n\n


FDP (member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

European\ncompetition policy: It is working. <\/em>The\nFDP<\/a> is patting itself on the back. The liberals provided\nseveral EU competition commissioners over the last years. So they ensured that EU\ncompetition policy works as well as it does\u2026 The liberal European election\nprogramme does not forgo the opportunity to clearly remind the reader of this. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chapeau<\/em>, FDP! But what about the challenges of the\nfuture, digitals platforms, China and \u2013 horribile\ndictu<\/em> \u2013 industrial policy? At least, the FDP demands that mergers below the\napplicable turnover thresholds should also be subject to merger control if\nnetwork effects pose a particular threat to competition (a hint to Facebook\/Whatsapp\/Instagram<\/a>). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But perhaps\na party for which Margrethe Vestager is running as a candidate on the European level<\/a> simply does not need a more explicit\ncompetition policy programme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


The Others<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s show\nsome heart for underdogs. As long as the small parties have not yet been forced\nout of the market by the “Lex germania<\/a>“, we would also like to take a\nquick look at the Free Voters (a party somewhere on the conservative-liberal\nspectrum), the Pirate Party, and the Animal Welfare Party, all of which scored\nbetween 1 % and 2 % of votes in the 2014 German EU Elections. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Free Voters\u2019 programme<\/a> lacks a section on competition\npolicy. A few statements on the subject of competition can only be inferred\nindirectly: The Free Voters, for example, are in favour of the promotion of\nsmall and medium-sized enterprises, and are therefore likely to oppose the\ncreation of European champions. They also advocate keeping the water supply in\npublic hands and protecting the taxi market from new mobility solutions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Pirate\nParty has set up a joint program of all European pirate\nparties<\/a> (Wow, true\nEuropean spirit!). Unfortunately, however, the programme is quite short and\ncontains hardly any statements on competition policy. The Pirate Party\ncriticizes copyright and patent monopolies. They also want to ensure\ntransparency and competition in the energy sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite an\nextensive European election programme, the Animal Welfare Party<\/a> also lacks almost any statements on\ncompetition policy. They want to expand the antitrust laws against financial institutions\nand monopolies, but how they want to do that remains unclear. However, they\nwant to take social and ecological aspects into account in merger decisions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let us put\nit this way: in view of these programmes, there is still room for a small party\nto promote competition. Meanwhile, the little ones can familiarise themselves\nwith the cartel party theory<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conclusion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

After\nreviewing the party programmes, there is not much left of new ideas on\ncompetition policy. Given the central role of competition in the single market\nand the multitude of current challenges, we remain astonished. But maybe the\napparent lack of ideas is only a commitment of the parties to the successful\nwork of DG COMP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the\ncurrent heavy use of the term “Industriepolitik” indicates a loss of\nconfidence in the international competitiveness of the competition principle.\nAre we experiencing the start of a new competition of systems with China? And\nwill the European Antitrust Agency soon unbundle Google, Amazon and Facebook? On\nMay 26, you have the vote!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Maximilian Konrad, MSc (LSE) works as an associate in a law firm in Karlsruhe specializing in civil law appeals. He has gained experience with competition policy in his PhD thesis on “The common good, public opinion and ministerial approval under merger law” (Duncker & Humblot, Autumn 2019). <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Disclaimer: The author is a member of the FDP. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the 2019 European Parliament election, friends of antitrust law are looking forward to one question in particular: Are we seeing Margrethe Vestager again as the next President of the European Commission? That, however, is so speculative that we are entering more secure territory: Election promises. Maximilian Konrad has reviewed the party programmes for those for whom voting advice apps have too few questions on competition policy. Brexit, refugee crisis, right-wing populism, euro crisis – there is no shortage of…<\/p>\n

Read More Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":2324,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[271,273,228,272,98],"class_list":["post-2321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-allgemein","tag-europawahl","tag-konrad","tag-wahlen","tag-wahlprogram","tag-wettbewerbspolitik"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"3.0.0","language":"en","enabled_languages":["de","en"],"languages":{"de":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.d-kart.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.d-kart.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.d-kart.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.d-kart.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.d-kart.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2321"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.d-kart.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2321\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2339,"href":"https:\/\/www.d-kart.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2321\/revisions\/2339"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.d-kart.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.d-kart.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.d-kart.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.d-kart.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}