Diagnostics of Competition Law: Economic Theory and the Case of Alleged Discrimination against Small Market Companies in EU Merger Control

Over the years, there has been talk about an unfair competition policy and a resulting 'small market problem' which treats mergers between small market companies and mergers between large market companies unequally. Yet, for a long time, a systematic analysis of the problem did not exist. It was not until very recently that an extensive study was published, which presented a diagnostic system enabling one meaningful way to analyse this complex and challenging issue. The present article discusses the argument concerning discrimination against small market companies in EU merger control in the light of economic theory. The article explains the economic-theoretic foundations lying behind the findings regarding the recently presented diagnostic system. This article shows that from an economic-theoretic point of view, a proper practical assessment of small market mergers is subject to many open questions, to which we still have no clear-cut answers.