EU competition policy: an application of the failing forward framework

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper examines how the ‘failing forward’ framework can contribute to explaining developments in EU competition policy, a policy domain where supranational and national forces have interacted over more than sixty years. The concepts of incompleteness of reforms and forward momentum, which are at the core of this framework, have been adapted to reflect the realities of this policy. In this area, the decentralisation of responsibilities to the national level does de facto correspond to a forward momentum towards a more effective competition policy enforcement. The globalisation and the digitalisation of the economy, and more recently the COVID-19 pandemic, pose new challenges. However, as it can count on strong supranational institutions and on its indispensability for the preservation of the single market, EU competition policy should be able to adapt to the changing environment, without risk of disintegration.