The enforcement of competition law is particularly relevant to fight corruption

By safeguarding undistorted competition in the internal market, competition law functions as the guarantor of the rule of law in economic activities, and as the accountability mechanism for markets and market actors.

Similar to EU constitutional principles and the EU values laid down in Article 2 TEU, the EU competition rules seek to control excessive and arbitrary use of power. While constitutional rules focus on monitoring public power, competition rules keep private economic power in check.

The enforcement of competition law is particularly relevant to fight corruption by ensuring competitive public procurement procedures without collusion among firms, and to safeguard the governance of strategically important sectors for society. Under-enforcement or selective enforcement of competition law tolerates collusion among undertakings, and is commonly seen as one of the main threats for the integrity of public procurement processes. Hence, effective competition law enforcement also protects the sound financial management of EU funds and forms a complementary tool to the EU’s budget conditionality instruments.

Likewise, combatting the accumulation and abuse of economic power, unlawful state subsidies and their precarious “connection” with the accumulation of political power is particularly important to safeguard media pluralism, and fundamental rights such as equal opportunities for all market actors in the economy.