THE COMMON MARKET AND COMPETITION POLICY IN THE EUROPEAN

The article addresses, from a mainly economic perspective, the analysis of the competition pol-icy in the European Union and its contribution to the process of consolidation of the common market. The core of the work consists of a panoramic view of the European competition policy. First, we offer a synthesis of the five areas: suppression of the restrictive agreements of the competition and abuse of dominant position; the control of the aid granted by the states; the liberalization of the eco-nomic sectors under monopoly; these three in the Treaty establishing the European Community, as well as the merger control between companies and international cooperation. Secondly, addressing the analysis of the new framework of the European competition policy, configured from the Council Regulations 1/2003, concerning the implementation of the rules of com-petition under articles 81 and 82 of the Treaty and the 139/2004, on the control of the mergers between companies. We close the paper with an entry of conclusions in which outlines the key challenges facing the European competition policy in the scenario of the global economy