ABSTRACT

This chapter deals with anticompetitive behaviour between European Union (EU) member states and corporations. It highlights the policy of the EU and in particular the policy of the European Commission. The chapter presents an outline of the interaction between member states, corporations and the EU regarding state aid. The lower prices of Fiat cars compared with the competition could entice consumers to buy a Fiat. The obvious result is unfair competition and possibly a reduction of competition in that particular industry in the long term. The chapter provides an overview of how state ownership can infringe EU competition legislation and what legal consequences this can have. The Court concluded that a conflict with European law exists if ‘national monopolies have as objects transactions in commercial products capable of competition and exchanges between Member States, and on the other hand play a leading part in such exchanges’.