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ARTICLE · 28 MAY 2026

The Rules Are Changing: European Merger Control At A Crossroads

Mayer Brown
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European competition regulators are simultaneously expanding their enforcement reach over below-threshold transactions and minority shareholdings while consulting on more flexible approaches to merger benefits and efficiencies. This paradox reflects tensions between protecting smaller innovators and enabling European companies to achieve global scale through consolidation, fundamentally altering the risk calculus for dealmakers navigating modern merger control.

United KingdomAntitrust/Competition Law
Nathalie Jalabert Doury
Nathalie Jalabert Doury
Christian Horstkotte
Christian Horstkotte
Daniel Vowden
Daniel Vowden
Guillaume De Meersman
Guillaume De Meersman
Elisabetta Rotondo
Elisabetta Rotondo
Sarah Wilks
Sarah Wilks
Author LinkedIn connections

Introduction

A striking paradox has emerged in European competition enforcement: regulators are simultaneously casting an ever-wider net over transactions including those falling outside traditional merger control thresholds, whilst consulting on approaches that promise greater flexibility and openness to the benefits of consolidation. This tension reflects current market realities. On one hand, there is rapid consolidation across certain sectors and, in some areas, calls for the promotion of larger European players capable of competing on the global stage. On the other, authorities want to protect smaller innovators from being absorbed or marginalised. In this context, competition law, and especially merger control, has come under criticism for being out of date and ill-equipped to deal with modern markets. In response, both the European Commission ("Commission") and the UK Competition and Markets Authority ("CMA") have been adapting and updating their approaches.

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