Commissioner Vestager: Parliament inquiry on Competition Council's activity might harm the body's independence

The European Commission is concerned that the parliamentary inquiry regarding the Competition Council (CC)'s activity might harm this body's independence, a paramount principle of a new Directive in this field, said European Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager, present in Bucharest on Thursday at the "European Day of Competition and Consumers" conference. 

The EC dignitary said that at the beginning of 2019, the European Parliament passed a new Directive on competition that confers the relevant authorities in each Member State increased independence. According to her, the parliamentary inquiry kicked off one month ago regarding the activity of the Competition Council on the topic of a past investigation on the interbank offered rate (ROBOR) raises concerns upon the way the principle of the independence of the Competition Council is observed in Romania. 

We are monitoring what is happening as regards the independence of the competition body in Romania and we have serious concerns about the parliamentary inquiry into the activity of the Competition Council, which seems to question some of these fundamental principles (of the Directive, ed. n.), Vestager added. 

In February, Parliament established an inquiry committee regarding an investigation carried out by the Competition Council in 2008-2013 in relation to the ROBOR. The ALDE (Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, minor at rule, ed. n.) senator Daniel Zamfir, the said committee's chair, holds that in 2008, the banks agreed to set high ROBOR quotes, and the Competition Council has covered the fact. 

When heard in the inquiry committee, the President of the Competition Council, Bogdan Chiritoiu, stated that the institution he is running has found no evidence to prove that the banks had an agreement to increase the level of the ROBOR index. In turn, the European Commission supervised the investigation and found no clue of law infringement.