On October 2, 2024, the European Commission appointed Emanuele Tarantino as new Chief Competition Economist at DG COMP.  Tarantino is expected to take office in a few weeks, coinciding with Teresa Ribera’s arrival as the new Commissioner for Competition. 

Tarantino was appointed for a three-year mandate, renewable for a maximum of two years.  Tarantino’s nomination puts an end to the interim period running since August 2023, when Lluís Saurí filled in the shoes of Pierre Régibeau after the failed attempt to appoint the US economist, Fiona Scott-Morton, to the role.

Below are some details on his background and areas of focus.

  • Education.  An Italian national, Emanuele Tarantino is Professor of Economics at Luiss University in Rome.  He holds a PhD from the European University Institute of Florence, and a master’s degree from the London School of Economics.
  • Current positions.  Since 2017, Tarantino is a member of the Economic Advisory Group on Competition Policy (“EAGCP”), a discussion forum on competition policy matters including leading academics in industrial organization, such as Patrick Rey and Maarten Pieter Schinkel.  EACGP supports DG COMP in improving the economic reasoning of its competition analysis.  In addition, Tarantino is a member of the Center for Economic Policy Research (“CEPR”), a pan-European non-profit organization providing policy-relevant research to policymakers, including the European Commission.  Since 2023, Tarantino also advises the Bank of Spain.
  • Publications.  Tarantino has authored publications on a wide range of topics, including (i) the effects of horizontal mergers on prices and investments, and acquisitions of start-ups lacking financial resources to grow by incumbents (both co-authored with M. Motta, former Chief Competition Economist – see here and here); (ii) patent pools, vertical integration, and downstream competition (see), and (iii) corporate investment and bankruptcy law.  Tarantino also co-authored an open letter supporting the Commission’s prohibition of Alstom/Siemens.  The letter argued that absent efficiencies from the merger, the elimination of competition between two companies would make the merged firm less competitive in international markets and harm consumers.

Several preliminary observations can be drawn from Tarantino’s appointment:

  • While the decision was taken by the current College of Commissioner, following a recruitment process led by Margrethe Vestager, Tarantino’s appointment has been discussed and jointly agreed with the Commissioner-designate, Teresa Ribera.
  • Tarantino will assist the new Commissioner in the challenging mission assigned to her by the President of the Commission, namely, implementing a “new approach to competition policy” which is more supportive of European/national champions, innovation, and the green transition.
  • A key question is whether, as an experienced economist in competition with strong track-record advising the Commission and other institutions, Tarantino will be able to stand his ground and help DG COMP withstand the current political pressure around the need to consider industrial policy goals in the competition policy when devising new tools (e.g., the new Merger Horizontal Guidelines) or in individual matters.
  • Tarantino should be a strong advocate for enforcement on so-called “killer acquisitions”.  Recently, he questioned what he referred to as “the current “laissez-faire” approach” towards acquisitions of potential competitors and called for stricter enforcement of below-threshold mergers.  He argued for the use of a transaction value threshold as an additional test to identify mergers that deserve a closer look and advocated for the use of the information conveyed by the takeover price in the competitive assessment and the counterfactual.