Global competition policy continues to evolve, and business leaders across Europe and the United Kingdom (UK) are navigating a more strategic and complex regulatory environment.
No longer a siloed and purely technical legal process, merger control has come into focus as a tool to advance wider policy objectives such as innovation, resilience, competitiveness and economic growth. Amid ongoing economic headwinds in the European Union (EU) and UK, competition authorities in these jurisdictions are revisiting how they approach merger control, both procedurally and substantively.
EU’s Merger Policy at a Crossroads
Debate about the role of merger control in the EU has intensified since the prohibition of Siemens/Alstom in 2019. That decision highlighted the tension between preserving effective competition in the single market and supporting creation of “European champions”.
Since then, the European Commission (“Commission”) has faced political pressure to adapt its framework in light of global competition from the US and China. Notably, the 2024 Draghi report on European competitiveness—now a year old—called for modernising competition policy to support broader strategic objectives such as innovation, investment, resilience and competitiveness.
Recent developments show the Commission’s willingness to adapt:
- The 2025 Competitiveness Compass echoed Draghi’s call, emphasising the need to close the innovation gap, pursue decarbonisation in ways that preserve competitiveness, reduce strategic dependencies and strengthen economic security.
- In May 2025, the Commission launched a comprehensive review of its Horizontal and Non-Horizontal Merger Guidelines, combining a general consultation with in-depth consultations on specific topics. The review is intended to align merger control with new market realities: digitalisation, globalisation and sustainability. It includes technical questions on how to assess dynamic effects such as on innovation, resilience and competitiveness. The review also covers the impact on labour markets—a new focus for merger control.
The Commission has commissioned an economic study on the dynamic effects of mergers, signalling its determination to better understand these effects and an openness to integrate them more fully.
From Enforcement to Investment: The UK’s Pro-Growth Pivot
Post-Brexit, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has sought to establish itself as a leading global authority. Its interventions in Meta/Giphy (2021) and Microsoft/Activision (2023) showed a willingness to block deals even when other agencies took a different view.
Since the Labour government came into power in July 2024, merger control in the UK has been drawn into a wider debate about growth and investment. This government prioritises economic growth, and ministers have signalled that competition policy should support the pro-growth agenda. The dismissal of CMA Chair Marcus Bokkerink in January 2025 was widely seen as a political intervention, driven by concerns that the authority’s stance risked deterring investment and hampering growth.
As part of this shift, the CMA introduced its “4Ps” framework—committing to improved pace, predictability, proportionality and process—with merger control singled out as a critical area for reform, reflecting its important role in shaping investment. The CMA has indicated that it will focus more on mergers with a “distinct and direct” UK impact, reducing the regulatory burden on global deals with no clear UK nexus.
In parallel, at the start of the year the CMA launched a review of its approach to merger remedies. Historically sceptical of behavioural remedies (which govern the conduct of the merged firm) and strongly in favour of structural remedies (such as divestitures), the authority is signalling more openness to behavioural solutions, particularly where they can maximise pro-competitive efficiencies and support growth by driving investment. Although slightly pre-dating both the remedies review and Bokkerink’s dismissal, the CMA’s acceptance of an investment commitment remedy in Vodafone/Three was an early sign of this shift.
Opportunities for Business Leaders
The shifts in both Brussels and London are not just technical; they reshape the landscape for how deals are assessed. For business leaders, this creates both uncertainty and opportunity:
- In the EU, although a firm landing on merger control reform has yet to be reached, we expect it to be favourable for companies to demonstrate a range of benefits from their transaction, such as increasing innovation, resilience and competitiveness for the EU. Being able to evidence these dynamic effects persuasively will be critical but complex and will require adapting existing tools.
- In the UK, the CMA’s reforms point to a greater emphasis on growth, more openness to behavioural solutions and faster timelines. They give businesses more room to shape the narrative around investment, remedies and the UK’s role in global deals. However, we expect the CMA to continue to be rigorous and, therefore, the quality of arguments and evidence to be key.
How BRG Can Help
BRG’s economists are actively involved in these developments. With offices in Brussels, Paris, London, Rome, Milan and beyond, BRG offers pan-European expertise grounded in regulatory insight and economic rigour.
As economic consultants, we can help businesses turn this evolving policy environment into a strategic advantage. We:
- Quantify and evidence dynamic effects, grounding arguments in commercial realities and robust economic modelling.
- Develop data-driven submissions, ensuring analysis aligns with the Commission and CMA’s evolving priorities.
- Design and test remedies, assessing when behavioural or structural commitments can address competition concerns without undermining growth.
- Translate new regulatory priorities into competition terms, modelling how digital, sustainability or labour-market issues affect incentives, market dynamics and the assessment of mergers.
- Bridge competition economics with business strategy, helping clients demonstrate pro-competitive efficiencies and position transactions as supporting broader policy goals.
Collaborating closely with BRG colleagues across the US, Asia and South Africa, our EU/UK merger team steers multijurisdictional filings with precision—combining deep local insight and global coordination to deliver seamless execution, a first-rate work product and outstanding client service.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, position or policy of Berkeley Research Group or its other employees and affiliates.
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