European Competition Law Is Lost at Sea
Imagine a world where digital-competition policy was guided by a desire to foster startup activity, competitiveness and, ultimately, growth. Competition policymakers would promote market conditions that enable new digital services to rapidly launch, gain user traction, and achieve greater scale. All of this would improve productivity, drive down prices for existing services, and help to make the world a wealthier place.
This is not entirely different from what former Italian Prime Minister and European Central Bank President Mario Draghi proposed in his recent report calling on Europe to pare back its regulatory overreach. Unfortunately, there are growing signs the European Union is heading in the precise opposite direction with its rules pertaining to digital markets—including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Act, the Digital Markets Act (DMA), and EU competition law more generally.