It’s all change at the European Commission. Teresa Ribera has taken over the stewardship of DG COMP from Margrethe Vestager, alongside a wider brief including  environmental and social policy that could conflict with competition law orthodoxy. This is set against a backdrop of intensifying political pressure for EU regulation to support the development and productivity of the flat EU economy and possibly the promotion of European champions. In this article, we consider the key EU competition law developments that are likely to impact M&A in 2025 within the world’s largest trading bloc.

Key competition law and digital markets aspects of the UK Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (“DMCC”), enforced by the UK Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”), came into force on 1 January 2025. For more information, see our in-depth analyses of the DMCC. We take note below of the UK’s new merger review thresholds, which apply to all deals completing after 1 January 2025 (other than those anticipated deals in respect of which the CMA already had a formal Phase One investigation open in 2024).

The new European Commission, under Ursula von der Leyen for a second term, kicked off on 1 December 2024. Teresa Ribera is the new head of European Competition Policy. After Margrethe Vestager’s ten year tenure, there is a strong prospect of a change in focus at DG COMP. From a structural perspective, Ribera’s formal title - Executive Vice President for a Clean, Just and Competitive Transition - breaks from the past, highlighting that her remit extends beyond competition to encompass environmental and social policy.  Von der Leyen’s instructions to Ribera emphasise this shift: “Europe needs a new approach to competition policy – one that is more supportive of companies scaling up in global markets, allows European businesses and consumers to reap all the benefits of effective competition and is better geared to our common goals, including decarbonisation and a just transition.” In this article, we outline our early views on what to expect from Ribera, analysing her upcoming policy priorities, discussing how she might approach key international relationships and evaluating the extent to which real change may be seen in practice.