A second piece of rather good news

What is particularly encouraging is that he's not someone who has lived exclusively within the competition policy world/bubble, but rather who seems to have the benefit of a certain distance, of adjacent regulatory experience, and of looking at the digital sphere in a holistic way. 

A Drago of competition policy/DMA? 

An important question is how "sensibly" he will be able to deal with the organised phalanges of IO economists and traditional competition lawyers, and whether he will be capable of co-articulating a better vision, including in economic terms.That was where even the great Lina Khan stumbled a bit, IMHO. 

A more conspiratorial reading, which does not persuade me at all, is that this is a way for von der Leyen to extend central political control over DG COMP in these geopolitical troubled times, as though it did not already have quite enough of that. The proof is in the side dish. 

 

 

 

[At the start of the Irish semester, this 3 y.-old  intervention seems still relevant, and in 2020 he was clear-eyed about the need to pursue technological sovereignty. As early as 2021, he was already discussing the DMA with the still-to-be designated gatekeepers. Small cherry on the cake: also a "more technological approach" fan ].