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Politico: Consultants involved in European Union antitrust cases have been treating EU competition officials to free flights and hotel stays. This practice, highlighted in documents released to POLITICO, shows that these consultancies, working for companies under EU scrutiny, paid for official trips to various conferences and events. The European Commission’s competition unit, critical in overseeing major corporate deals and investigations, has become a focal point for such corporate lobbying.
These trips often coincide with academic-style conferences, where legal and economic experts discuss court and authority decisions, sometimes in luxurious settings. A key draw is the presence of speakers from the Commission. However, with reduced travel budgets, the Commission has become more cautious about funding such trips.
In 2022, the Commission’s competition unit allocated €560,000 for official travel, significantly lower than the €880,000 budgeted pre-pandemic. Commission spokesperson Lea Zuber stated that while most mission costs are covered by the EU budget, third parties can fund certain expenses under specific conditions.
In 2022, Compass Lexecon funded trips for Commission staffers to conferences in Oxford and Como. RBB Economics paid for a Commission economist’s trip to Helsinki, and Charles River Associates funded a London conference trip for an antitrust official. Additionally, Medicines for Europe partially covered a senior official’s trip to Barcelona.
This disclosure followed a new rule implemented in March, after a controversy involving Henrik Hololei, the EU’s top civil servant for transport, who accepted free flights from Qatar Airways. Now, officials cannot accept sponsored travel or accommodation, except from universities, EU governments, or organizations like the UN or G20/G7, with a conflict-of-interest check.
The new policy arose after revelations that officials had partially funded up to 150 trips, with recent disclosures focusing on travel funded by consultancies, law firms, and trade associations. The Commission has not named the officials who accepted these travels, citing privacy regulations.
These consultancies have represented large corporations in merger reviews and antitrust investigations. Their involvement in funding official travels raises concerns about potential conflicts of interest, as the EU’s transparency rules don’t currently cover lawyers or economists working on competition cases.
The entire article can be read at the link https://www.politico.eu/article/consultants-shower-eu-antitrust-watchdog-free-flights-hotels/
