This year’s E.CA Expert Forum occurred on 19 May at ESMT Berlin. The conference covered all aspects of competition law enforcement, including sessions on the intersection between competition policy, the green transition and competitiveness.

Andreas Mundt, president of the Bundeskartellamt, opened the event with a keynote speech.  For the first time, and therefore a special honour for our conference, Teresa Ribera, Executive Vice President for a Clean, Just, and Competitive Transition, gave a keynote speech. Another keynote was held by Emanuele Tarantino, Chief Economist of the DG Competition.

The leading competition policy conference in the DACH region stands out for its emphasis on economic research and policy. This year, the conference welcomed over 300 competition policy experts, including leading competition lawyers and economists, policy makers and public authority representatives from Europe and abroad.

We thank the speakers for their valuable contributions and all participants for their overwhelming feedback. We will publish photos and insights from the discussions in the upcoming days. 

The new edition of the EU State Aid Control Law and Economics by Philipp Werner and Vincent Verouden was recently published. Our directors Hans W. Friederiszick and Elżbieta Głowicka contributed chapter 11, “Regional Aid”, together with Massimo Merola.

EU State Aid Control is an in-depth analysis of the legal and economic principles of EU State aid control. It thoroughly explores the central rationales of State aid and the various trade-offs that underlie the rules and decisions taken by the Commission and the Courts.

Chapter 11 provides an overview of the Commission’s regional aid policy, including its connection to the EU cohesion objectives, its historical evolution, and current trends in regional aid rules. It explores the economic rationale behind regional aid rules and illustrates the main principles by referring to two cases: Hamburger Rieger (2016) and LG Chem (2019, 2022). Finally, it elaborates on the current rules for assessing the compatibility of regional State aid with the TFEU and offers an outlook on future developments.

Massimo Merola’s contribution in the chapter focussed on the legal aspects of regional aid, while Hans W. Friederiszick and Ela Glowicka concentrated on the economic perspective.

We are delighted that we were able to contribute to this work and see this as proof that our expertise is recognised and valued in the market.

The book (ISBN 9789403524979) can be ordered via this link.

We are proud that GCR has once again recognised E.CA Economics as one of the world’s top 20 competition economics firms in its GCR 100 ranking.

Described as ‘highly recommended’ by our clients, E.CA stands out as a unique, independent European competition economics firm with strong roots in Germany and offices in Brussels and London. GCR also emphasises our close cooperation with our partners at Bates White, one of the leading US consulting firms.

Our academic credentials and extensive academic network are particularly emphasised, reflecting the expertise and excellence of our team. We would like to thank our clients and partners for their continued trust, positive reviews and recommendations that have contributed to this success year after year.

We congratulate our director and co-founder Rainer Nitsche on receiving the Competition Economist of the Year award. This annual award was presented on the 7 November by Lexology Index in London.

Many thanks to the organiser and to our clients and partners who have contributed to the assessment process with their favourable statements. We congratulate all other winners of the evening.

Each year Lexology Index (formerly known as Who’s Who Legal) presents awards to the individuals and firms that have performed exceptionally well in their sector.

In this study, we derive economic trade-offs of between the vertical organisation of rail transport and efficiency. For this purpose, we reviewed the academic and industry literature, screened available market statistics, assessed the experience from exemplary European countries and other network industries, and carried out interviews with industry experts.

Find out more

We are proud to announce that our expertise in providing economic analysis in competition cases is again recognised by clients and partners, who have contributed with their reviews to the Competition Economists Report of Who’s Who Legal.

This year WWL recommends ten of our colleagues at different levels of seniority based in our offices in Berlin, Brussels, London, and Munich.

• Hans W. Friederiszick and Rainer Nitsche received the prestigious Global Elite Thought Leader ranking in Competition Economics, a testament to their exceptional expertise and leadership in the field.
• Bas Dessens, Thomas Hildebrand, Simone Kohnz, Lars-Hendrik Röller, Alexis Walckiers, and Rafael Aigner have been honored with the Recommended ranking, solidifying their continued excellence in Competition Economics.

We are also delighted to celebrate the first-time recognition of Linda Gratz and Anselm Mattes in the WWL report, where they are commended as strong team leaders with profound economic knowledge.

Congratulations to our recommended colleagues, and to the wider team with whom they worked! And warm thanks to everyone who send their positive feedback: we very much look forward to working with you this year again!

Click here for the full review of the Competition Report.

LinkedIn post.

On the 5th of July our director Hans W. Friederiszick chaired a special policy session on this year’s CRESSE – Competition and Regulation European Summer School and Conference.

This session covered current developments and challenges relating to the topic “Ecosystem Competition: Access Charges, Fairness, Interoperrability”.

It was a great exchange with the internationally recognised experts and panelists Marc Bourreau (Télécom Paris), Giuseppe Colangelo (Università degli Studi della Basilicata), Jacques Cremer (Toulouse School of Economics), Eliana Garces (Analysis Group), Simon Loertscher (University of Melbourne) and Keith Waehrer (Secretariat Economists).

CRESSE is a network of academics and professionals, practicing in competition or regulatory authorities, consultancies and legal practices, with an interest in competition policy and sectoral regulation. It was initiated by Prof. Yannis Katsoulacos in 2005. E.CA has the honour of being a long-standing partner and we are very grateful for this cooperation.

The European Commission has published the report “Exploring Aspects of the State of Competition in the EU” on June 24 2024.

The report was prepared by a consortium of firms led by Lear and comprising E.CA Economics, Fideres, Prometeia, the University of East Anglia, and Verian. Our report has contributed to the Commission’s own report entitled “Protecting Competition in a Changing World”, also published on June 24 2024.

The chapter we contributed defined “Global Superstars” as the world’s 50 most profitable companies for five 5-year periods between 1998 and 2022.

Click here to read more.