Speech by Christine Lagarde, President of the ECB, at an event to mark the 15th anniversary of the Autorité de la concurrence

Paris, 5 November 2024

It is truly a pleasure to be back here today to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the Autorité de la concurrence.

Competition policy in Europe has always played an important role in ensuring the functioning of our Economic and Monetary Union. The main objective of competition policy has been to preserve competition within Member States and within the Single Market.

At the political level, these policy objectives were sometimes challenged, as they were seen as an obstacle to the goal of creating national champions in some sectors.

This apparent contradiction has now been aggravated by profound changes in the global economic and political landscape.

New technologies are transforming markets, new competitors are emerging globally, and governments are facing a new set of priorities, including louder calls for state aid and industrial…