European Competition Forum 2012
Programme and recorded sessions
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Introduction
Alexander Italianer, Director-General, Competition DG
Keynote speech
José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission Speech
Competition Policy and Competitiveness
Moderator: Kai-Uwe Kühn, Chief Economist, DG Competition, European Commission
Sharon Bowles, Member of the European Parliament (MEP), Chair of the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee
Agnete Gersing, Director General, Danish Competition Authority
Leif Johansson, Chairman, Ericsson
Ren Zhengfei, CEO, Huawei Technologies. Speech
Panel discussion:
- Contribution of competition policy: As part of the EU's overall policies, has competition policy contributed to competitiveness and growth? Should it contribute more, or in different ways?
- Competition policy and the economic crisis: Should competition policy be relaxed to help firms bridge the crisis? Would such an approach strengthen or weaken the economy?
- Competition at home versus global competition: Is there a balance to be struck between a strict competition policy and sheltering companies from competition "at home" to strengthen them for international competition?
- Competition and innovation: Can competition policy do more to ensure the competitive use of IP rights and the dissemination of innovation? How can competition policy support innovative SMEs, for example?
- Competition policy and industrial policy: Is there a conflict between these policies? Competition policy focuses on consumer welfare and industrial policy on growth, but both have the same long term aim of optimising welfare, innovation and growth. Further, how can competition policy contribute to further integration of the single market?
Keynote speech
Joaquín Almunia, Vice-President of the European Commission and member responsible for Competition Policy
State Aid control at a cross-road: Reform initiatives to strengthen the Single market
Moderator: Alex Barker, EU correspondent, Financial Times
Mercedes Bresso, President, Committee of the Regions
Vitor Gaspar, Minister of State and Finance, Portugal. Speech
Wolfgang Kopf, Senior Vice President Public & Regulatory Affairs, Deutsche Telekom. Convenor of the European Round Table of Industrialists Working Group on Competition Policy
Gert Jan Koopman, Deputy Director-General for state aid, Competition DG
André Sapir, Professor of Economics, Université Libre de Bruxelles. Presentation 
Panel discussion:
- Lessons learned from the financial crisis: How did the financial crisis highlight the importance of the interplay between regulation and state aid control, and the utility of state aid control as a coordination instrument?
- Lessons learned from the recent reform of state aid control: What was learned from the changes made during the 2005 reform of state aid policy and procedures? Should the balancing test be adapted? Should it be more broadly introduced?
- Way forward - Clarification and consolidation: Can state aid rules be clarified, simplified and improved further? Is there scope to consolidate certain guidelines? Would this help to build a more productive working relationship with Member States?
- Way forward - Prioritisation: Should state aid control be better prioritised and focussed more on the most important distortions of competition? Could there be a shift from complaints and notifications of small cases to more significant ex officio cases, possibly on a sectoral or thematic basis?
The European Competition Model
Moderator: Robert McLeod, of MLex Ltd, Editor-in-Chief of MLex market intelligence
Hendrik Bourgeois, Vice-President, European Affairs, General Counsel Europe, GE. Chair of AmCham EU
Carles Esteva Mosso, Director for Policy and Strategy, Competition DG
John Fingleton, Chief Executive, Office of Fair Trading, Chair of the International Competition Network (ICN) Steering Group
Eleanor Fox, Professor of Trade Regulation, New York University School of Law
Marc van der Woude, Judge, General Court of European Union
Panel discussion:
- The European administrative model: Is the European administrative model providing efficient antitrust enforcement? Have the main reforms delivered what was promised? In particular, is the Commission able now to focus on the right cases/priorities?
- The European model compared: How does the European model compare to other systems around the globe? Perhaps uniquely in the world, competition policy in the EU is part of the overall Commission policies - are there other noteworthy differences that define the model?
- The European Competition Network: Do the objectives of the European Competition Network need to be re-defined? How is the ECN contributing to coherent application of competition law throughout the EU? Is the ECN exportable as a network model?
- Where do we go from here? Are there areas where competition enforcement could further develop over the next decade and beyond? For example: private damages actions, penalties for individuals, convergence of procedures, extension of merger one-stop shop system. Should we move towards a Single Merger Area (i.e. same merger control law across the EU?)
Closing address
Alexander Italianer, Director-General, Competition DG
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