Competition weekly news summary
11 September 2015

Conferences/Speeches

  • Speech by Commissioner Vestager "Intellectual property and competition"
    19th Annual Competition Conference of the International Bar Association in Florence, Margrethe Vestager
    "Together, we should promote an environment where innovators and creators have the right incentives and rewards and – at the same time – where consumers can benefit fairly from their work."
    11 September 2015
    Read the speech>

Mergers

  • Statement by Commissioner Vestager on announcement by Telenor and TeliaSonera to withdraw from proposed merger
    11 September 2015
    The European Commission takes note of Telenor and TeliaSonera's announcement that they are abandoning the proposed merger of their respective business units in Denmark. It confirms that the discussions with the parties thus far were not able to fully address the Commission's competition concerns.
    Read more >
  • Commission clears GE's acquisition of Alstom's power generation and transmission assets, subject to conditions
    8 September 2015
    The approval is conditional upon the divestiture of central parts of Alstom's heavy duty gas turbines business to Ansaldo of Italy. Heavy duty gas turbines are mainly used in gas-fired power plants. The Commission had concerns that the transaction would have eliminated one of the main global competitors of GE in the heavy duty gas turbines market, where GE is the world's largest manufacturer and Alstom is the number three or four player globally. This would have led to less innovation and higher prices in a market for a technology vital to meeting climate change goals. The commitments offered by GE address these concerns. Concerning the other businesses that are part of the transaction, namely the thermal power generation businesses (other than gas), grid and renewables, the Commission did not identify any competition concerns essentially because the activities of the two companies are complementary and do not overlap.
    Read the statement>
    Read the press release>

State aid

  • Commission publishes Member State reports to make state support for the provision of public services more transparent
    8 September 2015
    The European Commission has published Member States' reports on compliance with the rules on State aid for the provision of services of general economic interest (SGEI) in 2012-2014. The reports allow citizens to see which sectors have received State support to compensate for the cost of carrying out public services, and the conditions on which it has been received, according to Member States.
    Read more >

Court


The tweet of the week

  • 8 September 2015

    Statement on GE Alstom

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Published by the Competition Directorate General of the European Commission. The content of this publication does not necessarily reflect the official position of the European Commission. Neither the Commission nor any person acting on its behalf is responsible for the use which might be made of the above information.

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