| dc.description.abstract | The EU remains the largest economic and trading area in the world, with more than half a billion consumers and 20 million companies forming its strongest lever –the internal market. The on-going process of improving and expanding the functioning of the single market goes hand in hand with developing competition policy. In essence, competition policy ensures that companies can compete on equal terms all across Europe. But competition policy also has another dimension –the social side –as referred to in the State of the Union speech 20161. Enforcement of competition policy can contribute towards a fairer economy and promote markets so that businesses and consumers can get a fair share of the benefits of growth. Taken together, competition policy actions inthe antitrust area, under the merger control and State aid control can make a real difference helping make markets work more fairly, for example, they stimulate innovation, prevent abuses from dominant players, contribute towards a connected Digital Single Market, a deeper and fairer internal market, an integrated and climate-friendly Energy Union, support competition-friendly regulation and foster a global competition culture. |
