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. You can read our in-depth analyses of the DMCC here. 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 indicated policy priorities, discussing how she might approach key international relationships and evaluating the extent to which real change may be seen in practice.

2024 is shaping up to be a year of significant change in Brussels. European Parliamentary elections in June will be followed by the appointment of a new Commission in the autumn. After two terms and 10 years at the helm of EU competition policy (which is unprecedented in recent times), Margrethe Vestager is likely to move on from her post as the bloc’s top antitrust enforcer – and her replacement will likely bring a new enforcement agenda. This article explores the top current trends and developments affecting M&A regulation in Europe, focusing on the continued targeting of “below threshold” deals via Article 22 of the EU Merger Regulation (“EUMR”), the rise of the new ecosystems theory of harm, the role of the Foreign Direct Investment (“FDI”) and Foreign Subsidies Regulation (“FSR”) screening regimes and sustainability as a factor in the substantive assessment of mergers – all set against the backdrop of the incoming new Commission that will drive EU competition policy until 2029.