Practices & Specialities
Competition
Policy Context
Competition policy and enforcement are the EU’s most effective tools in the development of a globally competitive single market. As solely competent for EU policy and decisions with regard to pan-European anti-trust, mergers and subsidy cases, the Commission wields its powers to promote a culture of compliance across the business and public sectors. Although grounded solidly in EU law and jurisprudence, there is considerable scope for political outreach at key levels to unblock a situation and for media outreach to seek more favourable coverage.
Our Approach
Our approach to the management of the political and media dimensions of EU competition cases is based on years of experience in three distinct areas: anti-trust, mergers and state aids.
Common to all three of these areas is the pre-eminence of the weight of legal argument in the outcome of the case. The case objective is always couched in legal terms. Most of the extra-legal argumentation and interest bearing on the objective will thus ultimately need to find legal expression. Moreover, the Competition Directorate-General of the Commission is something of a state within a state and is a particularly zealous guardian of its effective independence as enforcer of the law.
Our involvement in competition cases reflects these realities. We see our role essentially as supportive of the strategy being defined and conducted in most of its main aspects by the client’s legal team. It is important to state at the outset, so there is no misunderstanding, that we do not offer an alternative strategy to the legal strategy, nor to a weak legal case. Rather we work to create an environment and context in which a sound legal strategy and argument can succeed. In this effort we play a 3-fold role:
- Strategic advice: through our knowledge of the EU competition policy framework, the dynamics of the institution and key individuals working in it, we contribute to the overall strategy for achieving legal objectives. In this role, we are a sounding board positioned within the legal team but outside the immediate confines of the legal arguments, while understanding them. Much of our attention is focused on managing the quality of our client’s relationships with key personalities.
- Intelligence: we supplement the intelligence from the legal team with intelligence on developments and people directly or indirectly impacting the outcome of the case. This is typically more relevant in merger and state aid cases, where the policy “stakeholdership” is broader than in pure anti-trust (articles 81& 82) cases.
- Communications/media support: once again this is a support function to the legal strategy. Management of the media dimension of a case can be important in managing political and policy perceptions, investor relations, customer confidence etc.
Contacts
Elizabeth de Bony
Director
Office: Brussels, Belgium
Email:
Elizabeth is a Director in the government relations team at Burson-Marsteller Brussels. She provides the day-to-day management of the ICT team advising clients on the impact of EU legislation on their operations, and providing strategic advice on positioning and lobbying. Read extended profile
Elizabeth is a Director in the government relations team at Burson-Marsteller Brussels. She provides the day-to-day management of the ICT team advising clients on the impact of EU legislation on their operations, and providing strategic advice on positioning and lobbying.
As Director of Research, she works with other sectors notably healthcare and financial services, and supplies intelligence on horizontal policy developments impacting multiple sectors such as intellectual property rights, competition and taxation.
Before joining Burson-Marsteller, Elizabeth worked for 20 years in Brussels as a journalist for Business Europe and the International Data Group News Service covering political, economic and legislative developments in the European Union institutions.
Peter Linton
Senior Advisor
Office: Brussels, Belgium
Email:
Peter Linton brings to Burson-Marsteller unique experience as an advisor to international corporations on European corporate strategy and political involvement. Based in Brussels since 1972, he is widely recognised for his ability to help companies understand and respond to the phenomenon of European integration, and for his long immersion in European policy and regulatory affairs as they affect corporate strategy and performance. Read extended profile
Peter Linton brings to Burson-Marsteller unique experience as an advisor to international corporations on European corporate strategy and political involvement. Based in Brussels since 1972, he is widely recognised for his ability to help companies understand and respond to the phenomenon of European integration, and for his long immersion in European policy and regulatory affairs as they affect corporate strategy and performance.
From 1977 through 1986, Linton served with Business International (BI), where he was responsible or advisory services to corporate executives with Europe-wide responsibilities, and for BI's support services to corporate public affairs executives in Europe. As Vice President and Director for Western Europe, he was further responsible for BI's published services for the region, most notably the weekly Business Europe.
In 1989 he co-founded Robinson Linton Associates together with John Robinson. Robinson Linton Associates became a unit of Burson-Marsteller in 1993.
Peter Linton has been particularly active in information and communications industry sectors, and has pioneered the creation of the "European Internet Foundation" (www.EIFonline.org), which bring together elected politicians, ICT sector and civil society leaders to share understanding, and experience of the digital revolution's impact on European societies and political systems. As a co-founder and Rapporteur of the highly influential Transatlantic Policy Network (TPN,
John Robinson
Senior Advisor
Office: Brussels, Belgium
Email:
In the nascent days of the EU consultancy sector, John was co-founder of Robinson-Linton Associates in 1989, merging in 1998 with Burson-Marsteller where he has since worked as a managing director. Read extended profile
John Robinson has for over 35 years been professionally associated with EU developments and everyday activities: first as journalist, then as a European Commission spokesman, and for many years now as senior adviser to leading international corporations (in sectors like foodstuffs, packaging, consumer goods, chemicals, and in EU policy areas like competition/anti-trust, internal market, agriculture and the environment).
While Commission spokesman on social affairs (1981-1985), he wrote “Multinationals & Political Control”, a survey of regulations affecting business in the EU and internationally. Later, he was editor of “The European Challenge” a book which helped launch the EU Single Market Programme in 1992.
In the nascent days of the EU consultancy sector, he was co-founder of Robinson-Linton Associates in 1989, merging in 1998 with Burson-Marsteller where he has since worked as a managing director.
Earlier as a journalist, he was founding editor of the European Report (now Europolitics), and a board member from 1976-1980. He was also a regular contributor to The Economist and special EU correspondent of The Washington Post (1977-1980).
Jim Currie
Senior Advisor
Office: Brussels, Belgium
Email:
Jim Currie, the former European Commission Director General for Environment, joined Burson-Marsteller Brussels as a Senior Adviser in April 2007. Read extended profile
Jim Currie, the former European Commission Director General for Environment, joined Burson-Marsteller Brussels as a Senior Adviser in April 2007.
Jim Currie worked in the European Commission until 2001 in a series of senior roles. He was the Chief de Cabinet of the Commissioner for Competition Policy and Financial Services, Sir Leon Brittan, before serving as the European Commission’s Acting Ambassador in Washington D.C. during the first Clinton Administration. He was subsequently named Director General for Customs and Taxation in Brussels and then, on the eve of the Kyoto Climate Change Talks, became Director General for Environment. He led the Commission’s Team on the Kyoto Climate Talks and launched the European Emissions Trading Scheme.
Search this website
More B-M Talk
Burson-Marsteller accepts no responsibility for external links. Content of websites which are linked through B-M Talk is solely provided by the website owner.
(B-M Talk is updated automatically once per hour, 24 hours per day.)
