Fragmentation of EU legal system´s Rule of Law and proportionality of cartel fines

This research aims to offer a human dignity and development centred view on the EU legal system´s ability to handle complex issues in a system ethical context by combining rationality to reasonableness. Competition law is now interpreted in a manner that does not uphold the coherence of the EU legal system as a whole, and this interpretation causes tension between and inside the EU legal system´s structures. A solution for fixing this tension without automatically lowering the level of cartel fines, could require institutional checks and balances. In modern society, decision-making processes are strongly affected by the complex nature of the surrounding environment and due to this complexity, the democratic development of competition law has been hindered by decision-making that over-emphasises the meaning of economic analysis. The current methodology of fining does not advocate interpretations that are rooted in democratic and liberal values, which leads to intensifying fragmentation of criminal law and ultimately to the fragmentation of the EU legal system´s Rule of Law. The highly economic approach on competition law, combined with institutional structures that are underlining the meaning of administrative discretion, has led to an oversight of fundamental rights. This research studies the high level of cartel fines from the perspective of coherent interpretation and suggests that the justifiability of the EU competition policy ultimately depends on its ability to satisfy the requirements set by the Rule of Law. If simplified, this research discusses about the balance between economic policies and humanity-centred values. The theoretical approach, which has been taken in this research, is wide and highly-context sensitive. This approach is based on combining elements from interpretative legal philosophy, capability approach and retributivist legal theoretical frameworks in a manner that offers the best possible solution for methodological improvements that also benefit democratic development of EU competition law. One of the aims of this research is to offer a more functional and justifiable approach to general deterrence. In a complex system ethical environment, forward-looking harm considerations have a notable weight, but harm as an economic matter is intertwined with wider social welfare questions. In other words, economic efficiency questions are intertwined with social welfare questions and social welfare questions are not solely economic. For this reason, this research claims that competition law cannot be based solely on calculations that measure economic rationality. From methodological perspective, the rationale of proportionality analysis must be updated and for this purpose this research makes certain methodological de lege ferenda suggestions. As an economic question, cartel fines are important for the EU and for this reason there should be a balance between economic success of the Union and the democratic development of the Union.Tutkimus käsittelee kartellisakkojen oikeasuhtaisuutta EU-oikeudellisesta näkökulmasta. Tutkimus pyrkii vastaamaan kysymykseen siitä, miten taloudelliset intressit ja perusoikeudet voidaan yhteensovittaa parhaalla mahdollisella tavalla kilpailuoikeudellisessa kontekstissa. Tutkimuksen mukaan kartellisakkojen oikeasuhtaisuutta määrittelevä suhtellisuusanalyysiin perustuva metodologia ei nykyisellään huomioi riittävällä tavalla koko oikeusjärjestelmän koherenssin merkitystä, mikä on johtanut kilpailuoikeuden alueella taloudellisten analyysien merkityksen korostumiseen. Taloudellisten analyysien merkityksen korostuminen lisää jännitteitä EU:n hallinnollisten ja oikeudellisten rakenteiden välillä, ja näiden institutionaalisten rakenteiden väliset jännitteet voivat johtaa perusoikeuksien suojan tason vaarantumiseen tavalla, joka ei ole yhteensopiva EU:n oikeusvaltioideologian arvosidonnaisten lähtökohtien kanssa. EU-oikeusjärjestelmän sisäisen koherenssin näkökulmasta katsottuna suhteellisuusanalyysiin perustuvaa metodologiaa tulisi kehittää tavalla, joka mahdollistaa ihmisarvolähtöisen demokratian suojelun ja kehittämisen rationaalisella ja hyväksyttävällä tavalla