Chillin'Competition

Although apparently some some readers are of the opinion that I tend to be too favorable to the Commission in my comments (a capital sin for a lawyer in this town), that hasn’t been the general rule on this blog. Among other things, we have in the past criticized DG Comp’s HR policy, which often makes experienced people move from the posts where they can do best and, especially, the recruiting procedures which in recent years may not have always worked ideally.

Fortunately someone inside has realized about this and the Commission has now announced a new special competition for competition specialists (like many of you, we also received an email straight from Comp in our professional email addresses, the EDPS should perhaps look into that :)).

According to the email, “the European Commission is looking for highly-talented experts, with a strong academic background and at least six years’ professional experience in the following domains: Competition Law, Corporate Finance, Financial economics, Industrial economics and Macro-economics”. Those selected would join the Commission as AD 7 agents (for info on what this means –yes, in terms of pay too- click here) (speaking of which, I recommend a read of this piece from The Economist: Are Eurocrats in it for the money?).

DG Comp will be holding an information session on 22 October from 12:45 to 14 at the Madou Tower’s Auditorium (convenient time so no one in your office realizes about your absence, unless you all go there that is). You can register (before 20 October) via email COMP-CPI-MAIL@ec.europa.eu (your registration needs to contain your full details (name, date of birth, contact details) including your ID card number). The closing date for applications is 25 November 2014.

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Now that he’s not incurring the opportunity cost of writing this blog, Monsieur le Prof. Nicolas Petit will be an even more prolific paper-writer. His latest publications are available here: Optimal Enforcement of Competition Policy: The Commitments Procedure Under Uncertainty   and Price Squeezes with Positive Margins in EU Competition Law: Economic and Legal Anatomy of a Zombie

ERA has put together a great line-up of speakers for a workshop on Restrictions by Object after Cartes Bancaires and the Commission’s initiatives. For more info, click here.