Political Economy of the European Union: Competition Policy

Abstract

This article explores the effect of European Competition Policy as the means of the EU in global political economy. The actorness of the EU in global politics and its relations with its surroundings have always been a question that is asked. Within a political economy context, competition policy can be identified as an important tool for the EU in its external relations that proves the actorness of the EU. It both helps to increase the chance of domestic producers to reach foreign markets and regulates foreign firms and their products within the single market. Thus, the competition policy carries the EU up in the international political economy and helps the EU to be recognized as an international actor. Within the Single Market, the EU exercise an exclusive power through competition policy. Externally, competition policy is one of the most effective international powers that EU exercises as it has the ability to regulate international mergers or even initiate cartel investigations. Alongside assessing the competition policy, this study focuses especially on some selected international cases of which the EU is a party through its competition law. It is argued, in this article, that the international power of the EU stemmed considerably from its competition policy, which is integral in the global political economy.