"Capture and control: The institutional dynamics of EU regulatory independence"

The paper investigates potential influence on the European Commission's regulatory independence in merger review. The central argument is that Member States enjoy less influence than merging firms, decreasing the capacity for political control and raising the possibility of regulatory capture. The study also introduces another source of influence-third parties, mostly competitors and suppliers-which exercise considerable influence due to the institutional structure and information asymmetries of the EU merger review process. In short, the role of third parties further increases the possibility of regulatory capture, but by different firms. The influence of Member States, merging firms and third parties is compared through a careful empirical survey of the institutional structures of EU merger review. These structures function as avenues for and obstacles to political control and regulatory capture, determining the comparative influence of central actors in the EU merger review process