LUIS ORTIZ BLANCO: Good morning, everyone. Thank you very
much, Barry, for inviting me here.
We’re going to deal now with a roundtable on European competition
law enforcement. We have with us a very distinguished panel of speakers
for that purpose. We are definitely going to have a very useful discussion
on the actual status of European Union law enforcement.
Discussions at topnotch conferences, particularly those involving the
most senior representatives of the most relevant enforcement agencies, risk
ending up in a manifestation of Panglossianism, with the bottom line
being that probably it’s for the best in the best of all possible worlds. In
that view, EU competition enforcement works satisfactorily, and European
competition authorities are undoubtedly among the very best in the world.
But congratulatory statements are most often of little use, particularly
when there is considerable room for improvement. We believe that what
is more useful and more interesting for us is what can be done.
For this purpose, we have prepared a paper, “we” meaning Alfonso
Lamadrid and I. This paper has been tailored for the purpose of providing
elements for a discussion with the heads of the main actors of this story.
These exceptional panelists will take part in this roundtable concerning EU
enforcement. Let me introduce them. I’m sure you know them, but let me
do that.
First of all, John Fingleton, Chief Executive at the Office of Fair
Trading; Alexander Italianer, Director General in the Directorate General
for Competition in the European Commission; Bruno Lasserre, President
of the French Autorité de la Concurrence, Andreas Mundt, President of the
Luis Ortiz Blanco Garrigues - Affinitas, Madrid
John Fingleton Office of Fair Trading, London
Alexander Italianer DG Competition, European Commission, Brussels
Bruno Lasserre Autorité de la Concurrence, Paris
Andreas Mundt Bundeskartellamt, Bonn
Manuel Sebastião Autoridade da Concorrencia, Lisbon
