The auditors are asking the European Commission for more control over monopolies

The auditors are asking the European Commission for more control over monopolies

The European Court of Auditors (ECA) has stated that the European Commission should be more active in identifying problematic mergers and cartel cases. The ECA, which is in charge of monitoring the collection and management of EU funds from taxpayers, has given the European Commission a mixed assessment as a guardian of competition.

The European Commission should initiate investigations

Although the European Commission has made effective use of its powers in merger control and cartel proceedings in recent years, the ECA says improvements are needed. The European Commission should investigate more cases on its own initiative, said ECA member Alex Brenninkmeijer at the presentation of the evaluation. From the ECA's point of view, the challenge for the European Commission is the growing volume of data in antitrust proceedings and the emergence of digital markets. There is also a need to improve coordination with national antitrust authorities.

Proceedings against online giants

In recent years, European Commission Vice-President Margrethe Vestager has launched market abuse procedures against online giants such as Facebook, Apple and Google. However, the European Commission has focused its response to complaints in its antitrust surveillance of the EU market, according to the ECA report. According to the ECA, at a time of increasing digitization, the Commission should take a more proactive role in investigating cases. According to the report, the European Commission "did not invest adequate resources in monitoring markets".