Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

EU Competition Law 2010

2011; Oxford University Press; Volume: 30; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1093/yel/yer005

2045-0044

Ian Forrester, J. F. MacLennan, Andrew M. C. Dawes,

EU Law and Policy Analysis

2010 was another year of much activity in the field of EU competition law. At European Commission level, a number of significant developments occurred. First, a new Competition Commissioner, Joaquín Almunia, and a new Director General of DG Competition, Alexander Italianer, took office, both of whom pledged to continue the work of their predecessors, Neelie Kroes and Philip Lowe. There was an expectation that enforcement initiatives would be less spectacular under the new regime, and would be more rooted in the broader policies of the Commission, reflecting to some extent the personality of the new Commissioner, and his background in economic and financial affairs. However, to date, there has been little trace of a slackening of the pressure on cartels; the new Commissioner has endorsed the policies of his predecessor, which relied intensely on large fines and their deterrent effect. Nevertheless, greater attention has been paid to the question...