Sven Giegold

Breakfast briefing: Sustainability and competition law – Thu 22 Feb, 8-9h

Dear Members, dear colleagues, dear journalists,

We would like to invite you to join a breakfast briefing, provided by “Fair Trade Advocacy Office” on sustainability in competition law this Thursday, 22 February 8-9h in the MEP salon in the European Parliament, Brussels.

Commissioner Vestager will rule soon on the Bayer-Monsanto merger as a question of competition law. She claimed there is “ample room for sustainability in EU competition law”, suggesting decisions on competition law should not be focused on short term efficiency alone. The briefing will present two legal cases that allow to understand better what sustainability arguments were rejected and which were confirmed or hinted to as possible.

QUESTIONS for debate will be:

  • Can EU competition law help to achieve more sustainability?
  • Which line will prevail? DG COMP’s focus on efficiency or alternative models including other factors as supported by the EU courts?

LEGAL CASES to answer those questions presented in the event stem both from food supply chains, a sector of unprecedented growth, abusive market concentration and increasing imbalances of power. Presentations include the challenge of EU to live up to commitments to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

  • The Dutch case “Chicken of Tomorrow” is a defeated initiative for sector agreements for sustainability. While the competition authority did not accept to include sustainability arguments it allowed to calculate effects on future consumers, effectively a sustainability argument.
  • The German legal evaluation on mergers in the retail food sector explains why stricter regulation is possible, including rules of maximum 20 percent market share (“dominant position”) and considering other factors such as the environment.

BREAKFAST (continental) and coffee/tea/orange juice will be available. REGISTRATION with Peter using his address moehringer@fairtrade-advocacy.org is a welcome help but not necessary to attend. The exact room inside the MEP restaurant will be marked by a roll-up of Fair Trade Advocacy Office.

Kind regards

Sven Giegold and Ernest Urtasun, MEPs

 

P.S. Fair Trade Advocacy Office is registered in the EU Transparency Register: http://ec.europa.eu/transparencyregister/public/consultation/displaylobbyist.do?id=20744335040-66

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