New take on competition policy has to reflect key role of cities and regions in green and digital transformation
The members of the European Committee of the
Regions (CoR) discussed the European Commission's
annual Competition Policy Report during their
December plenary session in Brussels. The
opinion
drafted by
Dominique Lévêque
(FR/PES)
calls for future legislation to account for the
more complex state activity needed to unlock
regions' full economic potential in the green and
digital transformation.
Resting on the pillars of state aid control and
antitrust policy, the EU's competition policy seeks to
safeguard the single market from disproportionate state
interference and abuse of market power by large
corporations. It aims to achieve a single market
working to the benefit of EU citizens and consumers
alike. The CoR
opinion
adopted during the plenary session acknowledges the
importance of a sound competition policy, while at the
same time stressing that competition as such should not
be seen as an end in itself but rather as a means to
achieving overarching political objectives.
"The provision of public goods, infrastructure and
investment has always been a distinctive feature of
the European social model and will continue to play
a pivotal role in the green and digital transition
we face,"
said rapporteur Dominique Lévêque
(FR/PES), Mayor of Aÿ-en-Champagne.
"The main question from the perspective of the
regions, therefore, is how to reconcile stringent
competition policy with the need for
public investment in the framework of the European
Green Deal and the Digital Single Market
aspirations. Any new regulatory environment has to
respond to the different geographic and social
requirements in the regions and eventually strike a
good balance between the objectives of competition
and cohesion."
Overall, the CoR welcomed the Commission's latest
Report on Competition Policy, which indicated among
other things that the Commission had relaxed its strict
assessment of whether public services and investments
at local level affect trade between countries. A prime
example of this modernisation of state aid rules are
the recently implemented Broadband Guidelines, which
give local and regional public authorities more leeway
to address social and economic challenges linked to the
transition to a digital economy.
"Given the difficulties that policymakers in rural
areas face in bridging the digital divide with
urban areas via investment in broadband
infrastructure, this reform is a step in the right
direction,"
said Dominique Lévêque.
With regard to the forthcoming revision of the
guidelines on state aid for environmental protection
and energy transition, CoR members called for any new
regulatory framework channelling investments towards
renewables and energy efficiency to incorporate equally
ambitious measures securing affordable and reliable
energy supply. In addition, members urged the
Commission to investigate whether the kerosene tax
exemption amounted to a distortion of competition
benefitting the aviation sector, and – in view of past
cases of Member States granting unfair advantages to
domestic carriers by adjusting national taxation
schemes – suggested coordinating potential taxation at
European level.
Finally, the CoR pointed out the structural nature of
the housing crisis affecting urban areas across Europe,
in particular the fact that housing markets
increasingly fail to meet the demands of citizens with
average incomes. The CoR therefore urged the Commission
to clarify EU regulation of social housing and
make it clear, simple and transparent. Owing
to the diversity of European housing systems and the
broad range of local property market constellations,
revised regulations should strictly conform to the
principle of subsidiarity and maintain Member States'
room for manoeuvre in defining social housing access
criteria and implementing specific measures.
Members closed the discussion by encouraging the
rapporteur of the European Parliament, Mme Stephanie Yon-Courtin (FR/Renew) to
continue to advocate for the CoR's positions on
competition policy in subsequent parliamentary debates.
Contact:
Carmen Schmidle Maximilian v. Klenze
Tel. +32 (0)494 735787 +32 (0)2 282 2523
[email protected]
[email protected]
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