European competition law: an overlooked element of the EU’s rule of law toolbox

Over the years, the EU institutions have tried to address the root causes of the rule of law crisis. While the EU’s measures have shown both strengths and limitations, they have not prevented systematic rule of law violations in some of the EU’s member states.

In this European policy analysis, Katalin Cseres (Associate Professor of Law, University of Amsterdam) argues that more attention should be given to EU competition law – that is, rules on cartels, market dominance, mergers, and state aid – which has an important function for protecting the rule of law in the EU and its member states.

The importance of EU competition law stems from its fundamental role in the EU’s legal order, as shown by this analysis. By controlling the excessive and arbitrary use of economic power EU competition law functions as the guarantor of the rule of law in economic activities.

Competition law is moreover an exclusive competence of the EU and a shared value for all member states, as they have implemented it in their own legal systems. Both European and national competition authorities protect citizens’ economic rights and have similar functions to courts. EU competition law is thus enforced with far-reaching powers unmatched in any other EU legal and policy field.

The author highlights that effective enforcement of competition law is particularly relevant in the fight against corruption and in media markets, where undesirable collusions with political power and unlawful state subsidies prevent media freedom and pluralism.

As EU competition law provides robust legal instruments to prevent rule of law backsliding, the author calls on the European Commission to enforce these rules more actively in its defence of the rule of law.