Others give us personal accounts of what working at the European Commission’s department for competition was like. The video testimonials are about more recent events, because a look at our past needs not be limited to the distant past. A common theme runs through this range of topics and points of view. The picture that emerges from Comp@60 is one of principled re-invention. DG IV/DG Competition has always been dynamic, applying competition law and economics, with due regard to the facts, evidence and analytical rigour, to the EU's economic and political priorities and to constant change in technology and in the way companies do business.
I pay tribute to the many people who have made this happen during our first 60 years; from the Commissioners who have provided political leadership; to the Directors-General and other colleagues who have held managerial positions; to the staff who have served their fellow European citizens with their know-how and dedication. Together, they have been incessantly reinventing DG IV/DG Competition, while keeping enforcement firmly anchored to the
competition articles in the Treaty – which remain unchanged in their original form. We can all be grateful to them for their relentless pursuit of excellence and independence.
It is thanks to the standards they have established that, today, Europe’s consumers and entrepreneurs with operations in the single market can rely for the protection of their legitimate interests on a competition-control system that is widely recognised as among the most advanced in the world and one that will continue to check itself against reality so as to fulfil its mission effectively and rigorously in our changing circumstances.
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