Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) are calling for the European Commission to take a much tougher stance against major U.S. technology companies. To that end, they have proposed significant reforms to the EU’s competition policy, aimed at strengthening leading European companies while enhancing the EU’s strategic autonomy. According to the MEPs, these changes would make EU competition rules better suited to today’s economic and technological realities.
The proposed reforms are so far-reaching that the report’s rapporteur, Stéphanie Yon-Courtin MEP, has suggested examining whether competition enforcement powers should be transferred from the European Commission to a genuinely independent European Competition Authority.
Digital Markets Act
MEPs are calling, above all, for stricter and faster enforcement of the Digital Markets Act (DMA). To achieve this, they propose more market investigations, interim measures, a greater number of non-compliance proceedings, and higher fines. They also advocate introducing a dedicated “DMA fee” to provide stable funding for the effective enforcement of the legislation.
In addition, MEPs urge the European Commission to use the findings of its ongoing investigation into the cloud services market to adjust the obligations under the DMA, ensuring they more effectively remove barriers that prevent users from switching service providers.
They also call on the Commission to assess whether the scope of the DMA should be expanded to include AI models, AI-powered chatbots, virtual assistants, and connected TV operating systems. Such a move would significantly broaden the Act’s reach.
Strengthening the EU’s Strategic Autonomy
MEPs also seek to facilitate the creation of pan-European corporate groups and strengthen their long-term resilience. As part of this effort, they argue that authorities should take a firmer approach to so-called “killer acquisitions”—the acquisition of potential competitors to eliminate future competition—even when such transactions fall below the traditional merger notification thresholds.
A New Market Investigation Tool
According to MEPs, a new EU-wide market investigation tool could help address structural competition issues affecting the Single Market. Similar instruments already exist in several Member States. They therefore call on the European Commission to introduce such a mechanism to complement the current competition framework and better address market failures.
Greater Fairness
MEPs also propose introducing binding procedural deadlines for antitrust investigations and commissioning a study to ensure that competition fines always exceed the illegal gains obtained through anti-competitive conduct.
Finally, they want small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to enjoy better access to European defence markets, thereby strengthening competition and innovation across the sector.
