Competition policy – annual report 2025

The European Parliament adopted by 501 votes to 61, with 95 abstentions, a resolution on competition policy - annual report 2025.

Reclaiming the EU’s strategic autonomy through competition policy, innovation and digital sovereignty

Recalling the EU’s strong competition framework, Parliament stressed that EU competition rules must be consistent with the principles enshrined in the Treaties and should support the implementation of EU policies, including those covering industry, trade, consumers, financial services and defence, while ensuring a stable framework that fosters investments, growth and the ability to scale under fair conditions. Competition policy should contribute to the integration and deepening of the European capital markets and support the objectives of the savings and investments union.

Members are convinced that the Draghi and Letta reports should contribute to shaping competition priorities. They called for urgent follow-up to these reports and suggested that a new EU-level competition tool could help address structural competition issues across the EU.

Parliament recognised the need to strengthen the European defence industrial base. It reaffirmed the fundamental role of SMEs in strengthening European competitiveness, promoting innovation, and creating jobs. It further stressed the importance of reducing energy costs to preserve the EU's competitiveness by promoting net-zero energy sources, while ensuring a balance between an open single market on the one hand and security of supply and greater EU energy autonomy.

The resolution highlighted the key role competition plays creating digital market alternatives and reducing dependence on non-EU providers and their dominant position. It encouraged the development of key infrastructure to strengthen Europe's autonomy and innovation, including cloud services, AI infrastructure, financial market infrastructure, and resilient European payment systems, to ensure open markets and reduce strategic dependencies.

Members welcomed the application of the regulation on foreign subsidies as an essential tool for establishing a level playing field and addressing market distortions caused by foreign subsidies.

The Commission is invited to: (i) explore ways to strengthen the independence of the EU competition enforcement; (ii) present an impact assessment on the merits of establishing a dedicated European competition authority.

Competition in the digital age and enforcement of the DMA amid global challenges

Parliament urged the Commission to fully enforce the EU competition rulebook, including the DMA, in a consistent, impartial and legally robust manner, to safeguard Europe’s regulatory autonomy against political pressures. The Commission is called on to streamline and better articulate the competition and digital rulebook.

Parliament called for the process of the DMA review, which is expected to take place every three years, to be transparent, evidence-based, proportionate, targeted and ambitious, while ensuring regulatory stability and avoiding unnecessary expansion of obligations for market participants.

Stressing that increasing concentration in cloud services may undermine competition, Members stated that cloud obligations must be updated. The Commission is invited to use the cloud services market investigation to adjust DMA obligations and ensure that they effectively address the barriers that prevent users from switching providers.

Parliament also supports stricter enforcement of the Digital Markets Act for all market participants within its scope, regardless of their nationality. The Commission is urged to use all enforcement instruments provided for in the Digital Markets Act, including further market investigations, non-compliance procedures, inspections, interim measures, fines, and penalty payments, to prevent circumvention and ensure effective compliance.

Members welcomed the fact that the Commission is already monitoring the deployment of AI tools within designated core platforms under the Digital Markets Act. The Commission is asked to assess, as part of the upcoming review of the Act, whether the current list of core platform services adequately reflects market realities, including in areas such as AI models, AI chatbots and cloud services, main virtual assistant services, and connected TV operating systems. Stakeholders should be involved in the review of the DMA.

Antitrust

Parliament urged the Commission to (i) make appropriate use of interim measures to stop any practices that harm competition, particularly in fast-evolving digital markets; (ii) address the problem of excessively long antitrust investigations; and (iii) conduct a comprehensive study on the deterrent effect of its fines.

Merger control

Europe lacks large-scale companies capable of competing globally in numerous key strategic areas. Members consider scaling up within the single market as a strategic EU imperative to mobilise investments, drive competitiveness, invest in innovation and enable EU companies to compete effectively on global markets. Therefore, competition policy should not create unnecessary obstacles for companies that need to scale up in order to compete globally.

The Commission is called on to adopt a forward-looking and dynamic approach to mergers, taking into account efficiency gains, including, for example, economies of scale and sustainability gains, as early as possible in the procedure, while ensuring transparency and predictability and allowing companies to form alliances when they contribute to innovation, climate resilience and security.

Text adopted by Parliament, single reading