The Competition Policy of the European Union in the Context of Economic Cooperation with the United States

Abstract

The European Union’s competition policy is one of the most important elements in the functioning of the entire European Community (EC), as its issues oscillate around the shared market. The economic aspect is key to understanding the actions taken around the founding of the European Communities (European Economic Community of 1957). Initially, the EC was predominantly economic in nature, and only after the Maastricht Treaty came into force in 1993 did the European Union reorient itself into a political community. This paper juxtaposes the impact of the European Union’s and the United States’ economic powers on global economic relations, with a particular explanation of the specifics of how the EU and the US conduct their trade policies, and how this implies mutual trade relations. Then, the European Union’s competition policy and its specific features are discussed, which have a decisive impact on the emergence of economic conflicts between the partners from both sides of the Atlantic. An important role is also played here by the issue of ISDS (investor-state dispute settlement) mechanism and differences in the understanding of labor rights in the United States and the European Union.