A new ‘green’ era for the EU : what role for competition law?

Abstract

This dissertation explores the intersection of EU competition law and sustainability, asking whether the current framework can coherently integrate environmental objectives without undermining legal certainty, consistency, and effective enforcement. It focuses on the structural tension between competition law’s traditional price-centred objectives and EU’s constitutional commitment to sustainability. The dissertation is centred around competition law’s three pillars, and analyses how sustainability agreements are treated under the more flexible Article 101 TFEU and EU Merger Regulation, and the rigid Article 102 TFEU. The study moreover identifies enforcement inconsistencies, focusing on the progressive Dutch ACM, the radical Austria and the more cautious Bundeskartellamt, alongside a comparative analysis of the more progressive UK CMA. It reviews academic sources to highlight concerns about fragmented enforcement and the lack of consistent legal methodology. The findings underline the limits of the current framework in accommodating sustainability and point to the need for reinterpretation or reform to ensure coherence between competition law and EU’s wider constitutional objectives.