The economic crisis is not the time to suspend the authority of the Competition Agency, stated today the president of the Competition Council, Olgica Spevec. The temporary suspension of part of the powers of the Competition Agency was recently proposed by the association Croatian Exporters as part of their proposals for intervention measures to mitigate the economic crisis.
The crisis confirms that the role of the market is irreplaceable, but there must also be a corrector of market flows; otherwise, there is no protection for entrepreneurs and consumers, said Olgica Spevec at today’s presentation of the results of the PHARE project “Strengthening Capacities for Managing and Implementing EU Competition Policy and State Aid.” The suspension of the powers of the Competition Agency (AZTN) would not be the right response to the crisis, but rather, in the context of market competition, it would be a careful use of support for competitiveness, research, development, and employment, said Spevec.
She warned that it would not be good if the crisis prompted direct state interventionism and a race for subsidies, as small countries like Croatia would be certain losers in that process. The project “Strengthening Capacities for Managing and Implementing EU Competition Policy and State Aid,” which was presented today, is a PHARE project worth 1.5 million euros, initiated in 2007. The partners of the AZTN in the project were the Ministry of Economy and Technology of the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Federal Cartel Office. The main goals were to improve the system of protection of market competition and state aid in Croatia by aligning legislation with EU acquis, including the drafting of a new law on the protection of market competition and subordinate regulations.
