EU competition law from Rome to Lisbon : social market economy

Abstract

This essay is a review of the evolution of EU competition policy. The first two sections suggest that the place and role of competition in the Treaties and in the minds of EU policymakers has remained largely unchanged since the Treaty of Rome in 1957. Having established this, two claims are made: first that there is too little emphasis on competition in the Treaty, so that some gaps remain as a result of which so certain markets remain uncompetitive; second, that there is also too much emphasis on competition, so that non-competition values in the Treaty are undermined. Labour relations are used as a site to demonstrate the excessive influence of competition. These two claims do not pint to a paradox but rather to the importance of finding a coherent mix of competition and non-competition considerations.