The Institutions of European Competition Governance

At the institutional heart of the supranational enforcement of competition policy sit the European Commission and the European Courts. The relationship between these institutions is pivotal both in day-to-day administration and for the broader evolution of policy. Yet while the interaction between the Commission and the Courts makes for a fascinating case-study of European policymaking, it also poses important normative questions about the accountability of governance in the competition sphere. With both the EU Council and the European Parliament (EP) on the sidelines insofar as much of competition decision-making is concerned, the European-level bureaucratic and judicial politics of competition regulation has taken centre-stage and at times become extremely contentious. Since the mid 1990s, however, this top-down model of competition governance has been within a framework, which leans towards a more network-orientated approach to decision-making and enforcement. National Competition Authorities (NCAs) and domestic (national) courts perform an important role within this emergent network. While it may be too early yet to classify the Commission as a ‘network organization’ (Metcalfe 1996) or network manager, there has been a notable shift across the board in how competition decision-making operates.