Pursuing Regulatory Objectives Under Competition Law

While the Commission has stood its ground against political pressure to relax enforcement for the purpose of grooming European champions, that does not mean only economic welfare arguments have been accepted under competition law. Rather, over the years a pattern has emerged whereby, in the absence of satisfactory single market regulation, the Commission has occasionally resorted to competition law in order to secure single market objectives. This has allowed for the development of an unexpected close interaction between competition law and single market regulation occasionally taking the form of pollution rather than influence