European Commission Releases Draft Merger Guidelines: A Modernized Merger Assessment Framework That Addresses Concerns Of Global Competitiveness

The European Commission (the “Commission”) has published draft Merger Guidelines (the “Draft Guidelines”). The draft represents the most comprehensive modernization of the EU merger control framework in over twenty years.

Notably, the Draft Guidelines combine the 2004 Horizontal Merger Guidelines and the 2008 Non-Horizontal Merger Guidelines into a single, unified effects-based framework (with significant changes).

Spurred in large part by two landmark blueprints for the overhaul of the European economy—Enrico Letta’s report on the future of the Single Market (the ""Letta Report"")[1] and Mario Draghi’s report on the future of European competitiveness (the ""Draghi Report"")[2]—the Draft Guidelines signal a major structural recalibration of EU merger control. Together, these reports argued that Europe's legacy regulatory framework historically prevented EU firms from achieving the cross-border consolidation and industrial scale necessary to compete globally against U.S. and Chinese