Sweden takes the lead!
The materials including the videos (English language) from the European Competition Day conference held in Stockholm on the 7 & 8 October 2009 have been published.
Maud Olofsson, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Enterprise and Energy, in her welcome speech stated:
“At the same time we must ensure that the remaining public owned businesses behave on the same terms as private businesses. The Swedish Government has therefore recently presented a proposal to the Riksdag (parliament) on a new Swedish law to prevent unfair competition.
We can now get efficient rules which prevent Swedish government bodies from competing with private companies on unfair terms. This is an important addition to the prohibitions in our competition laws. 5
The proposals will enable the Competition Authority but also entrepreneurs to approach the Stockholm City Court and apply for example a municipality to be prohibited from engaging in a certain business activity in a manner that distorts competition. An exception is if the activity (procedure) is judged to be in the public interest and therefore defensible.
The government also has an agenda to sell state owned companies to further ensure that rules of the game are even.
In these difficult times, the last companies needs is to also meet the state as a competitor. Taking a comprehensive approach to competition issues is necessary to improve the opportunities for reform that offers clear and long-term results for the whole economy.
There is no silver bullet to take Europe back to the top. But I am convinced that if we continue the hard work of making competition in Europe as equal as possible. Our business will prosper, which is the only way to maintain our welfare.”
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