Former von der Leyen aide’s new role reflects EU competition policy shift

BRUSSELS — Ursula von der Leyen wants to modernize competition policy so that European businesses can stand their ground against global rivals, and with the appointment of Anthony Whelan she has installed a trusted adviser to make that happen.

Whelan, an Irish national who advised the Commission president on digital policy for her first six years in office, was named on Monday to lead the EU executive’s competition department. The move puts a seasoned eurocrat with deep policy knowledge and proven loyalty into arguably the most powerful job in the EU bureaucracy.

In an interview with POLITICO, Whelan profiled himself as both a guardian of continuity and an agent of change. He saw his role as “serving the continued evolution” of policy, while ensuring consistency between broad political objectives and the policy instruments the competition department is developing.

The 25-year Commission veteran succeeded former Director-General Olivier Guersent after a nine-month hiatus, ending a spell of uncertainty marked by mounting U.S. hostility over how the EU enforces its tech antitrust rulebook. His in-tray is overflowing, with an overhaul of the bloc’s merger guidelines on top of the pile, along with an urgent review of state aid rules to respond to the energy shock from the U.S. and Israeli war on Iran.

Whelan steps up at a time when the purity of competition policy that officials venerate as a pillar of the EU’s single market project is being tested as never before. That pressure is coming from von der Leyen’s emphasis on a similar word with a quite different meaning — competitiveness — that she has summed up by calling to create European industry “champions.”

Von der Leyen hasn’t hesitated to intervene in the pace of what she’s labeled as “modernization” of competition policy — for example by demanding that the department significantly advance the deadline for the delivery of new EU guidelines to review large corporate mergers.

Power play

Two lobbyists and a European lawmaker that POLITICO spoke to read Whelan’s appointment as a move by the president to secure her grip on the competition department headed by her number two, Teresa Ribera, who as the Commission’s executive vice president in charge of competition policy is his direct boss.

But two EU officials close to Ribera, who like the people above were granted anonymity to speak about sensitive issues, insist that Whelan was her choice. 

The Spanish commissioner has enthusiastically endorsed Whelan’s appointment, citing his “deep experience in European policymaking.” 

Speaking with POLITICO, Whelan denied that his role was to build a bridge between von der Leyen and the competition department. “I don’t think the president and the EVP are in need of bridges,” he said.

Ribera — who as the top socialist in the Commission is a foil to Christian Democrat von der Leyen — also framed the department’s future mandate through a philosophical lens, calling for enforcement grounded in fairness and protecting the vulnerable. 

“In these uncertain times, our responsibility is more important than ever: to enforce rules firmly, to remain free from any distorting pressures, to act with integrity,” Ribera wrote.

European Commission Executive Vice-President for Clean, Just and Competitive Transition Teresa Ribera arriving at the European Pulse Forum in Barcelona on April 10. | David Zorrakino/Europa Press via Getty Images

Bridge builder or not, competition bubble insiders say Whelan has the bureaucratic and political chops to both manage that relationship and execute on the new competition agenda.

“Highly intelligent, politically savvy, pragmatic, open-minded, and a strong believer in vigorous enforcement,” is the verdict from Nicholas Levy and Basak Arslan at law firm Cleary Gottlieb.

Whelan’s deep legal knowledge, administrative experience and close ties with von der Leyen position him well “to navigate the pressures on the Commission to support the EU’s long-term economic and strategic ambitions while preserving competitive markets,” they wrote in a research note.

Colleagues also welcomed Whelan’s hire as a sign of continuity and stressed his competence as a crucial factor. Whelan is “a safe pair of hands,” said one official from the competition department who was also granted anonymity as they were not authorized to speak publicly. “We’ve landed well, he knows heaps about policy,” said another.

Whelan told POLITICO he wasn’t impressed by the way industrial policy is creeping into the competition arena, as he’d been in the institutions long enough to have seen similar cycles before. 

During former Commission President José Manuel Barroso’s tenure, from 2004 to 2014, there was a line that “competition policy is industrial policy,” Whelan recalled. “In that sense, the expression is not at all alien to me.”

He anticipated that the revamped merger guidelines will spell out how the Commission approaches companies’ claims that the benefits of a merger could counteract any possible negative effect on pricing or other factors. 

“The last thing you want is potentially positive mergers to be deterred simply because the parties are unsure of how far they can go with a certain type of claim or evidence,” he said.

With the program

A lawyer by training, Whelan joined the Commission as a member of the legal service in 2000 and later advised former Commissioner Neelie Kroes on competition and the digital agenda. He spent seven years in the executive’s digital and telecoms department before becoming von der Leyen’s digital adviser in 2019.

Something that he’s taking with him from the 13th floor of the Commission’s Berlaymont headquarters is the simplification mantra. 

“That’s definitely something that DG COMP is working on,” he said, adding that he would look at simplification both externally — vis-à-vis authorities and industry — and internally, in organizing the department.

Resources also appear to be top of mind for Whelan, who since departing the Berlaymont last fall has overseen state aid policy as a deputy director-general at the competition department. 

“The toughest challenge in times like these, when resources are constrained and the potential tasks are endless, is to make sure that the right resources are available from the limited ones,” he said.

And indeed, Whelan said he was aware of his predecessor Guersent’s description of DG COMP as the Rolls-Royce of Commission departments. He wants to modernize that image. “I’m looking for a brand of classy car that has an electric engine. And once I find out what it is, we will rebrand,” he joked.