Gasòliba i Böhm (ELDR). – (ES) Mr President, we are at the end of the mandate of the Commission and Parliament and therefore, on this occasion, I would like to congratulate Commissioner Monti on the excellent work he has done throughout the mandate of this Commission.

Competition policy, as has been pointed out, is one of the fundamental policies which the Commission is responsible for. Its implementation and application is very difficult and subject to many pressures, I would therefore like once again to congratulate Commissioner Monti on his success in implementing this policy.

Nevertheless, there are certain aspects which worry us and which other Members have pointed out. The first, naturally, is that we must not lower our guard. The pressure from economic and political interests to sidestep market rules is logical, and we must always balance, for the benefit of citizens and consumers, the free exercise of market mechanisms in order to ensure an efficient market with a correct allocation of resources. It is therefore obvious that we must counteract these pressures, since it is logical, and we economists know it, that the tendency of any company is to control the market, if it can be done in an oligopolistic way, all very well, but if it can be monopolistic, even better, and in certain sectors there are still very significant distortions, as has been mentioned here.

The second point that I would obviously like to point out is the Liberal Group’s traditional position that there should be a section in the Court of Justice to deal with these issues.

The third and final point would be to ensure, both in the Commission and in the other institutions of the European Union, that the operation of the courts responsible for competition, at all levels within the Union, is correct. If it is rigorous in certain areas but not in others, we are obviously giving comparative assistance which distorts the situation of the markets, and even more so, as has been pointed out, in view of the enlargement which will take place in a few months’ time.

Having made these observations, which I would like to leave as suggestions for application in the future, I would like to repeat that we in the Liberal Group are in agreement with the positions expressed by the rapporteur, Mr Della Vedova, and we congratulate Commissioner Monti on his wonderful work.