In May 2025, the Commission launched a public consultation on possible reforms to its merger guidelines, covering seven core topics that underpin how the Commission assesses the competitive impact of mergers.[1] On October 29, the Commission summarized the main trends of the 243 responses[2] it received.[3] The highlights are as follows:
As part of our response to the European Commission’s consultation on possible reforms to its merger control guidelines,[1] we provided our views on Topic Paper E – Digitalization.
In July 2025, the European Commission launched a consultation about its revision of the EU antitrust procedural rules.[1] This is part of a comprehensive evaluation that the Commission initiated in March 2022, to ensure that the procedural framework for the EU’s antitrust enforcement remains “fit for the digital age” after its enactment 20 years ago.[2]
As part of our response to the European Commission’s consultation on possible reforms to its merger control guidelines,[1] we provided our views on Topic Paper D – on Sustainability and Clean Technologies.
As part of our response to the European Commission’s consultation on possible reforms to its merger control guidelines,[1] we provided our views on Topic C – Innovation And Other Dynamic Elements In Merger Control.
In the latest instalment of Cleary Gottlieb’s Antitrust Review podcast, host Nick Levy is joined by Teresa Ribera, the European Commission’s Executive Vice-President for a Clean, Just, and Competitive Transition. Their conversation, held in front of a live audience in New York at the Fordham Corporate Law Institute’s 52nd Annual Conference on International Antitrust Law and Policy, covers an array of topics, including the objectives of antitrust, sustainability, EU merger control, the Draghi Report, digital regulation, international cooperation, and much more.
On October 1, 2025, the General Court dismissed Laudamotion’s application for annulment of the European Commission’s (“Commission”) decision rejecting a complaint that Lufthansa’s concurrent acquisition of flight slots previously held by Air Berlin and conclusion of a wet lease agreement for 40 Air Berlin aircrafts constituted an anticompetitive concertation in breach of Article 101 TFEU.[1] The General Court reconfirmed that to sustain an infringement finding, there can be no alternative plausible explanation for the alleged anticompetitive concertation.
In July 2025, the Commission published its draft Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR) guidelines for consultation. The guidelines discuss the FSR’s distortion and balancing tests and the EC’s powers to call in “below threshold” mergers and public tenders for ex ante review.
As part of our response to the European Commission’s consultation on possible reforms to its merger guidelines,[1] we provided our views on Topic Paper B – Assessing Market Power.
As part of our response to the European Commission’s consultation on possible reforms to its merger control guidelines,[1] we