Mario Monti’s Legacy in EC Merger Control

Nicholas Levy, Apr 01, 2005

Mario Monti’s tenure as EC Commissioner for competition policy between September 1999 and November 2004 coincided with one of the most eventful periods in EC merger control since the Merger Regulation came into force in 1990. This article places his tenure in historical perspective, describes the principal European Commission decisions and judgments of the EC courts rendered over the period, and identifies Commissioner Monti’s principal achievements in the field of merger control. These achievements include the adoption of a recast and modernized Merger Regulation and Horizontal Merger Guidelines intended to ensure that the Commission’s application of the Merger Regulation is firmly grounded in sound economics. The durability of Commissioner Monti’s legacy will be determined by his successors’ commitment to implementing the letter and spirit of the reforms instituted at his initiative and systematically taking decisions based on an objective appraisal of quantitative, economic evidence.