6 flashpoints for the EU’s new competition chief

Teresa Ribera is in line to pick up a hefty European Commission role in charge of the Green Deal, an area she knows well as Spain’s climate minister and as an international climate negotiator.

But she’s also got another job policing competition, one of the most powerful Commission policy areas. POLITICO laid out what she’ll need to watch out for.

1. Return on investment

Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told Ribera to overhaul competition policy to make Europe a more attractive place for companies. That aimed at two things: doing more to take account of the economy’s “acute needs” for mergers — by allowing more deals in strategic industries — and easing state aid to help governments funnel cash to industry.

Ribera may have to walk a tight line between these political demands and what competition law requires her to do in checking — or even blocking — deals and subsidies.

2. Keeping Big Tech in line

Outgoing competition chief Margrethe Vestager brought in strict rules that aim to set limits on Big Tech power, the Digital Markets Act (DMA).

The Commission is now under pressure to show that it can enforce these rules. Ribera is tasked with ensuring “rapid and effective enforcement actions” under the DMA, for which she’ll share responsibility with Henna Virkkunen, set to be in charge of tech sovereignty.

An immediate priority will be policing Big Tech firms where the Commission thinks companies may not be in line with their DMA requirements. That sees the EU threatening fines for some of the world’s richest companies. Google and Apple have two probes each and Meta has one; all are due to wrap up by March. Another Apple investigation has a June deadline.

3. Fining times

Vestager was a whirlwind of antitrust action, fining Google more than €8 billion. Ribera may get her chance too. Probes into Facebook’s marketplace and Google’s advertising technology are at an advanced stage — potentially still allowing Vestager to sneak out one more big penalty before she goes.

The Google investigation comes after more than a decade of EU frustration over a search giant whose market share was barely dinted by three antitrust probes. The Commission waved the threat of breaking up the company’s ad business to resolve the problems it sees.

Ribera will be in charge of resolving a probe into Microsoft, which the Commission charged in June for linking its Teams service with its must-have office software.

4. Catching killer acquisitions

Merger officials are worried about Big Tech or Big Pharma firms that scoop up small innovative rivals in deals that don’t get reviewed by regulators because the smaller firm’s revenue is too low. The Commission thought it had found a solution only for the EU’s top court to tell it to think again earlier this month.

Von der Leyen has now told Ribera to “address risks of killer acquisitions from foreign companies seeking to eliminate them as a possible source of future competition.”

How to do that is the tough part. Lowering the existing thresholds for a review via a legal change risks catching too many deals and exposing merger law to potential amendments from EU governments and the European Parliament.

5. Understanding artificial intelligence

Competition enforcers around the world have been sniffing around Big Tech partnerships with AI startups to make sure the old guard isn’t using its power to keep smaller players from becoming fierce rivals.

The Commission is looking at Microsoft’s exclusivity deals with ChatGPT developer OpenAI and is warning that it is watching the rest of the industry. It’s also looking at Nvidia, the main supplier of chips used to power AI.

6. Fighting foreign subsidies

The Commission has a new law to clamp down on help that non-EU governments give their favorite companies that has largely been aimed at Chinese business. So far it’s been used to probe aid for wind turbines and security scanners.

Von der Leyen seems keen for Ribera to “vigorously enforce” these rules, telling her to proactively map “the most problematic practices.” What’s less clear is if she’ll give Ribera the staff she needs to do so.