EU competition commissioner Mr Mario Monti faces another make or break ruling on Friday over last year's veto of the merger between the packaging groups Tetra-Laval and Sidel. A third defeat in four months, after having won every case since the beginning of European merger regulation, would seriously weaken the EU antitrust authorities.
In June the court said the Commission erred by barring British travel firm AirTours, now called MyTravel, from buying rival First Choice. But by then the deal had been dead for three years. Monti was not in charge during the AirTours investigation, but Schneider was handled on his watch."Once could be a mistake, twice is carelessness but three times would be a disaster," said a Brussels-based observer. But even if Mr Monti wins on Friday, he is under serious pressure to make radical changes. "They need to restore credibility to the system," said Mr Simon Baxter at the law firm Clifford Chance, which advised GE in its $42 billion bid for Honeywell, blocked by Mr Monti last year. The judgment will strengthen the hand of those among lawyers and companies who want to take the power to block mergers away from the Commission and give it to the court, just like in the US. It could also boost the case for those in the European parliament and the court, calling for a dedicated competition court to ensure all appeals are speedily processed. - (Financial TimesService)
