European Competition Day - Agenda

Program

Speakers

08.30 - 09.30

Registration

09:30 - 09:40

Opening remarks and keynote address

Jakob Hald, Director of the Danish Competition and Consumer Authority

Jakob Hald has been Director General of the Danish Competition and Consumer Authority since 2016. He is an economist and has held several positions in the Danish central administration over the years.

09:40 - 10:20

Key note speaker: Minister for Industry, Business and Financial Affairs Morten Bødskov

Key note speaker: Deputy Director-General Guillaume Loriot, DG Competition
“European Competition Policy as a driver of Single Market Integrity”

Morten Bødskov has been Minister for Industry, Business and Financial Affairs since 2022. Previously, he has also served as Minister of Defense and Minister of Taxation.

Guillaume Loriot is Deputy Director-General for Mergers in the Directorate-General for Competition in the European Commission since 16 May 2021. From 2014-2021, he was the Director in charge of Telecom, Media and Technology competition cases (e.g. Hutchison/02, Hutchison/Wind, Google Shopping, Google Android, Pay TV, Videogames, ISU, etc). He previously served as Deputy Head of Cabinet of Vice-President Joaquín Almunia, EU Commissioner for Competition Policy (2010-2014) and from 2002-2010, he held different positions in DG COMP. Before joining the Commission, Guillaume worked in a law firm on competition matters and subsequently as a referendaire with the EU General Court. He studied law in Paris II University, University College London and the College of Europe in Bruges.

10:20 - 10:35

A perspective from the Danish Competition Council

Christian Schultz, president of the Danish Competition Council

Christian Schultz is a professor emeritus at the Department of Economics at the University of Copenhagen. He has conducted research in, among other areas, political economy and competition economics. He has served as Chairman of the Danish Competition Council since 2012.

10:35 - 11:00

Coffee break

11:00 - 12:45

Session 1: Competitiveness and Competition Policy in a changing geopolitical landscape

The session will elaborate on the interplay between competition policy and competitiveness in a rapidly evolving geopolitical context.

Major geopolitical changes have occurred in a short time span. Increasing focus from the US on protecting domestic production from foreign competition has led to higher import tariffs on goods, and the war in Ukraine has brought renewed attention to national security and increasing energy prices in EU. 
         
The Draghi report from 2024, reflecting on the future of European competitiveness, recommends, that Europe should accelerate its rate of innovation, bring down energy prices and lessen product and defence dependencies.

The session will provide perspectives on whether – and how – Europe should rethink its industrial and competition policy in order to safeguard growth, resilience and technological development, while ensuring well-functioning competition in a geopolitical landscape that is shaped by economic protectionism, the rise of new global players and changing international trade patterns.

Fiona Scott Morton
Professor of economics at Yale School of Management

Topic: Industrial policy and well-functioning competition - friends or foes?

Philipp Schröder
Professor of economics at Aarhus University and member of the Danish Competition Council

Topic: Trade, productivity and competition

Jackie Mortensen
Head of Competition Law at Carlsberg

Topic: Unlocking European competitiveness: A view from industry

Fiona Scott Morton is professor of economics at the Yale School of Management, where she was also Associate Dean from 2007-2010. Her research is in the field of empirical industrial economics with a focus on competition. From 2011-2012, she served as Chief Economist in the Competition Division of the US Department of Justice. She frequently presents to government agencies tasked with enforcing competition law and is a Senior Fellow at the European economic policy think tank, Bruegel. She is also co-author on the competition chapter of the Draghi report.

Philipp Schröder is a Professor of Economics at Aarhus University, Denmark, and Co-Director of the Centre for Economic and Firms Research at Aarhus University. His research and teaching focus on topics in economics related to firms, exports, taxation, and productivity. Philipp is also a member of the Danish Competition Council and serves on the Boards of Directors of Innovation Fund Denmark and the central bank of Denmark (Danmarks Nationalbank).

Jackie Mortensen has been a competition lawyer for close to 25 years and is Head of Competition Law at Carlsberg.  Jackie is responsible for competition law matters across Carlsberg globally – including advice, investigations & litigations, M&A, compliance and policy engagement.  Jackie worked as a competition lawyer in private practice in Australia for close to fifteen years and in the Maersk Global Competition Law & Policy team for close to six years.  Prior to joining Carlsberg, Jackie worked as a Director at Novo Nordisk in the Government Affairs’ team and was responsible for building the global geopolitical strategy function. 

12:45 - 13:45

Lunch break

13:45 - 15:30

Session 2: The paths to well-functioning competition in a Big Tech world

Tech companies play a central role in businesses’, citizens’ – and competition enforcers’ – lives. As our economies evolve with new products, services, technologies and solutions, so do the ways in which large and small firms maintain and improve their market positions. 

The view in several jurisdictions is that competition enforcement alone cannot sufficiently ensure well-functioning markets where tech players are present. Therefore, as a complement to competition rules, the EU introduced the Digital Markets Act (DMA) in 2023 and the UK has introduced the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act (DMCC) in 2025. Other jurisdictions are also considering adopting similar complementing regulation. In the US, on the other hand, efforts continue to rely on traditional antitrust enforcement.

This session takes stock of the experience so far with maintaining competition in digital markets through these novel pieces of legislation, how they work in practice and their interplay with traditional competition rules. The session also discusses to what extent the current toolboxes are sufficient, or if there are further reforms on the horizon.

Carlota Reyners Fontana
Director (COMP.C), Markets & Cases II: Information technology, communication & media, Directorate-General for Competition, European Commission 

Rikke Riber Rasmussen
Principal Economist, Chief Economist Unit, Google

Kush Amlani
Director, Global Competition and Regulation, Mozilla

Moderator: Fiona Scott Morton

Carlota Reyners Fontana is director, Markets & Cases: IT, Communication and Media, Directorate-General for Competition, European Commission. She is in charge of the enforcement of antitrust, merger and state aid rules in the field of information technology, communications and media. In this role, she is responsible for antitrust and mergers investigations in the areas of AI, cloud, software and hardware against big tech companies amongst others. She was previously head of unit for 8 years in DG CONNECT in charge of EU policy and legislation in the electronic communications sgector. Between 2012 and 2014, she was Member of the cabinet of Vice-President Neelie Kroes, European Commissioner responsible for the Digital Agenda. She holds a law degree from the Autónoma University of Madrid and a Master in European law from the Brussels university. Before joining the Commission, she worked as a competition lawyer in the private sector.

Rikke Riber Rasmussen is a Principal Economist, in the Chief Economist's Team at Google, specializing in competition and regulatory economics for digital markets. She leads the economic strategy across various competition and regulatory matters globally. Prior to joining Google in 2017, she held several economics research roles, including as an economics consultant at Charles River Associates. She holds an M.Sc. in Economics from Aarhus University.

Kush Amlani is director for Global Competition and Regulation at Mozilla. As part of his role, Kush Amlani leads Mozilla’s efforts for open and competitive digital markets. His team takes a unique consumer-focused and research-led approach with the goal of ensuring that competition interventions positively impact people’s experiences online. Prior to joining Mozilla, Kush was a Senior Competition & Regulatory Lawyer at the BBC for five years, based in London. He joined the BBC from SJ Berwin LLP (later Kings & Wood Mallesons) where he worked on competition cases in sectors such as energy, media, telecoms and pharmaceuticals, including the pay-for-delay cases before the European Commission and the Court of Justice. Kush studied law at the University of Warwick and Université Montesquieu Bordeaux IV.

15:30 - 15:50

Coffee break

15:50 - 17:20

Session 3: The Importance of Efficient and Predictable Competition Enforcement

The session will elaborate on the importance of efficient and predictable competition enforcement. 

Effective competition is a core feature of well-functioning markets. The EU-Commission is, together with the competition authorities of the member states, enforcing the EU-competition rules to keep markets well-functioning. Alongside, the Commission is doing targeted work to ensure that all enforcement instruments remain fit for purpose. A major step will be the newly announced revision of the EU antitrust enforcement rules (Regulations 1/2003 and 773/2004) with the object of enhancing effective and speedy antitrust enforcement and keeping up with transformative changes such as the digitalization of the economy. 

At the same time, it is equally important that the framework for enforcement ensures legal certainty and predictability for companies which must act based on self-assessment while simultaneously risking high fines. 

The speakers will provide their perspectives on the importance of efficient and predictable enforcement seen from the view of an enforcer, an academic and an industry perspective.  

Inge Bernaerts
Director, Policy and Strategy, Directorate-General for Competition, European Commission

Morten Kofmann
Partner, Kromann Reumert Law Firm, Copenhagen

Giorgio Monti
Professor of Competition Law at Tilburg Law School.

Inge Bernaerts is director Policy and Strategy, and acting Director Basic Industries, Manufacturing and Agriculture, Directorate-General for Competition, European Commission. She is Director for strategy and policy in the European Commission, DG Competition since August 2020. She is responsible for conceptualising and developing policy initiatives in antitrust, mergers and state aids. Inge also led the work of DG Competition on the design and inter-institutional negotiations of the Digital Markets Act and the Foreign Subsidies Regulation. Since September 2025, Inge is also acting Director in DG Competition’s directorate enforcing antitrust, merger control and State aid rules in basic industries, manufacturing and agriculture. Inge holds a law degree and a post-graduate degree in European law. Before joining the Commission in 2003, she practiced competition law at the Brussels bar and she lectured European law seminars at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.

Morten Kofmann is a partner with Kromann Reumert Law Firm. He was the resident partner in Brussels in 1996-2001. Morten Kofmann provides advice on EU and Danish competition law including notifications under the EC Merger Regulation, investigations under TFEU Articles 101 and 102, private enforcement actions, applications to the European Courts and general counselling. Morten Kofmann is a graduate from the University of Copenhagen (1986) and the London School of Economics and Political Science (LL.M., 1990). 

Giorgio Monti is Professor of Competition Law at Tilburg Law School. His principal field of research is competition law, a subject he enjoys tackling from an economic and a policy perspective. He is also a Research Fellow at the Center for Regulation in Europe (CERRE), part-time Professor at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy, and joint editor of the Common Market Law Review.

17:20 - 17:30

Closing remarks

Paul Mollerup (moderator)

Paul Mollerup holds an MA in Economics and is currently a partner at Bridge Consulting in Copenhagen, Denmark. For 15 years he was Managing Director of The Association of Danish Law Firms. Prior to that he held various positions in both the private and the public sector. He chairs the Danish Business Regulation Forum, an independent “watch dog” advising the Danish Government on Better Regulation.

17:30 - 18:30

Wine and snacks