French Competition Chief Says EU States Undermine Draghi’s Agenda

In this episode of The Brussels Beat, Javier Espinoza speaks with Benoît Cœuré, president of France’s competition authority, about growing tensions between EU ambitions for European companies to scale up and member states’ resistance to regulatory harmonization. They discuss why cross-border consolidation in sectors like telecoms, energy and finance remains limited despite calls from the Draghi report. They also explore:

• What national antitrust enforcers can—and can’t—do to respond to the global energy crisis stemming from the U.S.-Israel attacks on Iran

• The upcoming overhaul of EU merger guidelines and how efficiency arguments may be treated

• His authority’s work policing no-poach agreements and studying the rapidly evolving market for AI chatbots