Opening remarks by Executive Vice-President Teresa Ribera at the signing ceremony of the EU – UK Competition Cooperation Agreement

Thank you all for being here with us this afternoon.

Dear Secretary of State, thank you.

Thank you for your involvement and the involvement of your government, your country, to keep on developing friendship, mutual cooperation, and enhanced action in a moment of particular importance. 

Because I think that your presence here exemplifies the spirit of cooperation and mutual respect that is key in order to fulfill our goals to serve our societies, our people.

And today's agreement is another step forward.

I think that this will mean an important step moving forward because it is precisely in these times of turbulence, uncertainty, where friendship and cooperation show to what extent they are much more better tool to provide comfort and prosperity to our people, based on the bonds of cooperation with our closest partners, with our closest neighbors.

I could say that this is what our societies like to see.

Together we are strengthening our ability to promote fairer and more efficient markets.

The European Union and the United Kingdom have a long history of close and good cooperation in these fields.

The United Kingdom was a founding member of the European Competition Network back in the early 2000s, working closely with the Commission and other national competition authorities under this structure of deep cooperation for more than 15 years.

The commission took many decisions that related to the British market and worked closely with the UK authorities in each of them.

Following Brexit, we continued our cooperation in an informal manner, but this agreement marks to what extent we like working together and to what extent we want to show to the world that we are deciding to keep on boosting our cooperation.

For the first time since Brexit, this agreement will put in place a formal, clear and transparent structure for us to work.

Allow me to give good examples of why this matters.

First, the agreement will ensure that we inform each other of important steps that we are planning in our major cases.

It will facilitate the exchange of confidential information that we each hold on our antitrust submerged investigations, facilitating sound, consistent approaches, allowing greater predictability and legal certainty to the companies, to the business communities that want to keep on building better relations at the two sides of the channel.

The agreement makes clear that we should always check if there are sensitive aspects or important points in an investigation, respecting the independence and legal framework of its jurisdictions.

It is also unique because this agreement is the first agreement of its kind that brings together not only the commission, but the 27 national competition authorities in the European Union.

None of the other competition cooperation agreements being signed by the European Union include this approach, this is the first one.

So looking forward, ratification procedures are required on both sides of the channel, but I'm optimistic.

We invite the Council to adopt a swift decision to conclude the agreement and look forward to the European Parliament's consent.

Let us turn this agreement into a living partnership, the partnership that we like, the partnership where we feel comfortable setting a standard for modern competition cooperation.

Firm, coordinated, and adding value.

Guided by the responsibility to reward innovation, protect consumers, and strengthen interest in our economies.