Vestager’s razor to cut the ordo-liberal knot

Historical scene depicting a dramatic moment, showcasing figures in elaborate attire with a sword and ornate surroundings.

To turn the page on more than forty years of quarrel over whether antitrust is about protecting the competitive process without prejudging its result or about ensuring that markets have a competitive structure (thereby tipping the balance towards a particular market outcome), Commissioner Vestager has finally applied Ockham’s law of parsimony.

Do androids dream of exclusivity?

Stylized black and white illustration of a statue, symbolizing law and justice in European Union regulation.

Almost fifty years ago, Philip K. Dick wondered whether androids dreamt of electric sheep as a way of reflecting on robots’ ability to develop feelings and on humankind’s entitlement to doing away with machines showing this dangerous anomaly.

Alternativlos!

Pablo Solano speaking at a conference on EU regulation and competition law with Google and Springer logos in the background.

‘Alternativlos!’ The deterministic slogan of the pensée unique in its English version, and proclaimed worst word of 2010 in Goethe’s language for not so different reasons, has been turned by Mathias Döpfner into the war cry of Google’s foes.