The Global Competition Law Centre is pleased to welcome you to the 18th Annual Conference, entitled "The future of energy markets: which role for competition policy in the current geopolitical context".
The conference will be held on 20-21 April 2023,.
Please find the programme here.
Day 1: Thursday, 20 April
Keynote Speech by Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager
Day 2: Friday, 21 April
Co-organised by: Adina Claici & Massimo Merola
Adina Claici is director of GCLC. She is a competition economics expert whose background combines consulting experience, academia, and nearly a decade in the Chief Economist Team of DG Competition. Adina specializes in mergers, antitrust, and state aid cases. She also provides clients with insights on competition policy developments in the EU. She is a frequent speaker at conferences and seminars, and has been named one of the top competition economists by Who’s Who Legal. She has been published in numerous academic journals and has authored several book chapters in the areas of state aid and the digital revolution. In addition to her consulting work, Dr. Claici is currently a Visiting Professor at the College of Europe, Barcelona School of Economics and Universidad Carlos III in Madrid.
Béatrice Dumont is Professor of economics at Sorbonne University Paris and Director of the Department of Economics at the College of Europe. She is a Visiting Research Fellow at DG GROWTH and a Research Fellow at the Climate Economics Chair. She is also a member of the scientific committee of the Global Competition Law Center (GCLC). Between 2006 and 2009, she was a member of the prospective unit of the French Prime Minister on intellectual property rights (IPRs). She studied economics at the Universities of Aachen in Germany, Edinburgh in Scotland and Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne where she received a PhD in economics. She was a Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Chicago and at MERIT (Maastricht University). Her research focuses on the economics of innovation and IPRs, competition policy, green techs and the economics of European integration.
Dr Assimakis Komninos is a Partner at White & Case LLP, a Visiting Professor at Université Panthéon Assas (Paris II) – LLM AWArDS, Visiting Research Fellow at University College London, and a member of the Executive Committee of the Global Competition Law Centre (GCLC) of the College of Europe.
Inge Govaere is Professor of EU Law, Director of the Ghent European Law Institute (G.E.L.I.) and Director of the LLMs at Ghent University. She is also the Director of the European Legal Studies Department at the College of Europe in Bruges. She obtained her PhD at the European University Institute (EUI) in Florence (Italy). Inge Govaere was Fulbright Scholar in Residence at Cornell University (Ithaca NY, USA) and has been a visiting professor or given conferences and guest lectures at many universities worldwide, inter alia Columbia University (N.Y., USA), Yale University (C.T., USA), Curtin University (Perth, Australia), University of Sao Paolo (Brazil), Université Panthéon-Assas (Paris II, France), Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition (Munich, Germany), the European University Institute (EUI) (Firenze, Italy), and Cambridge University (UK). Her academic interests vary from EU external relations law to Rule of Law in the EU, Internal Market and EU intellectual property rights. Her latest (co-edited) books are “The Division of Competences between the European Union and its Member States: Reflections on the Past, Present and Future”, Oxford: Hart Publishing (2017, paperback 2020); “The EU Better Regulation Agenda”, Oxford: Hart Publishing (2018, paperback 2020); “The Interface Between EU and International Law: Contemporary Reflections”, Oxford: Hart Publishing (2019, paperback 2020); “Critical Reflections on Constitutional Democracy in the European Union”, Oxford: Hart Publishing (2019, paperback 2021); “EU External Relations Post-Lisbon: The Law and Practice of Facultative Mixity”, Brill (2020); “Internal Market 2.0”, Oxford: Hart Publishing (2020 paperback 2022). Inge Govaere is a member of the Helsinki Rule of Law Forum. Inge Govaere is also a member of the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts (KVAB).
José Rivas, co-Head of our Brussels’ Competition & EU Group Over 30 years’ experience in representing leading US, Japanese and European clients across a broad range of industries including aviation, ICT, Sports, Media, Retail and Food & Beverages Extensive litigation experience before the European Courts in Luxembourg with more than 100 cases, including three in the Grand Chamber of the Court of Justice Head of a leading US firm’s Brussels office and co-head of the firm’s European competition group before joining Bird & Bird Editor of World Competition, Law and Economics Journal (Walters Kluwer) and has written extensively on competition law Visiting professor at the College of Europe (Natolin) from 2001 to 2021 and frequent speaker at conferences and seminars Member of the Working Groups on Competition and State Aids Law of the European Confederation of Business Associations (Business Europe) Member of the Executive Committee of the Global Competition Law Centre (GCLC)
Anna Colucci. Since 1 July 2019, Anna Colucci is Director for Markets and cases in Energy and Environment in DG Competition. She previously joined DG Energy in February 2016, where she was head of the Retail markets, Coal and Oil Unit. From 2007 to 2016 she held several management positions in DG Competition. In particular, she managed the State aid unit dealing with "Post, Health and other services" and was also head of the Strategy unit. Prior to her joining DG Competition, she had thirteen years' experience in transport policy within DG Move. Ms Colucci has a degree in Political Sciences from the Institut d'Etudes Politiques of Strasbourg, a master in European Studies from the College of Europe of Bruges and a diploma in International Relations Studies from the Johns Hopkins University Bologna.
Dennis Hesseling joined ACER in 2012. He is responsible for the Agency’s energy infrastructure (electricity and gas), gas network codes and market monitoring, and energy retail activities. Before joining ACER, he worked as Head of Unit in the Competition Department in ACM, responsible for merger control and antitrust enforcement in the Dutch energy, telecommunications and med ia sectors. Before that, he worked in its Energy Regulation department from 2002 on, mainly on gas. From 2000 he worked as a management consultant for McKinsey & Company in Brussels. Mr. Hesseling holds a PhD in Mathematics and received additional training at business school IMD. He trained energy regulators, competition authorities and political parties in Europe, Asia and Africa.
Hans van Steen is Principal Adviser for « an integrated renewable energy strategy towards the 2050 carbon neutrality objective » in the Directorate General for Energy in the European Commission. Mr van Steen holds a Master's Degree in Political Science from the University of Århus, Denmark. He began his career in the Danish Ministry for Education and later moved to the Ministry for Energy as Head of Sector for European and Nordic energy co-operation. He joined the European Commission in 1989 as a Seconded National Expert, working mainly in the area of energy technology dissemination. Following several assignments in the Commission in the fields of energy and transport, he became Deputy Head of Unit for Inter-institutional Affairs (2001 - 2006), Head of Unit for Renewable Energy (2006 - 2013), Head of Unit for International Energy Relations and Enlargement (2013 - 2017) and Adviser on Renewables, Energy Efficiency Research and Innovation (2017 - 2022). He was Acting Director (Just Transition, Consumers, Energy Efficiency and Innovation) from 2018 to 2021. Mr van Steen took up his current position on 16 January 2022.
Bernardus (Ben) Smulders, born in The Hague (Netherlands) on 25 June 1960, was educated at the European School of Brussels (Uccle), graduated in law at Leiden University, obtained a Master’s Degree at the London School of Economics and completed management executive programs at the London Business School, INSEAD and Stanford Business School. As from 1 March 2022 he is Deputy Director General in the European Commission’s DG for Competition, after being Director in the European Commission Legal Service, heading the Trade Policy & WTO team. Prior to this, he worked in the Legal Service as Director, heading the Institutions & EMU team and served before as member of its Internal market-, State aid control & Competition teams. Over a period of 12 years, he gained considerable experience in representing the European Commission in litigation before the EU General Court and EU Court of Justice, the EFTA Court and WT0. He served from 2014 until 2019 as Head of Cabinet to the European Commission First Vice President Frans Timmermans. From 2004-2008, he was Head of Cabinet of the Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes, after having served as a member of cabinet of the Enlargement & External Relations Commissioner Hans van den Broek (1995-1999) the Internal Market Commissioner Frits Bolkestein (1999 – 2000) and the President of the European Commission Romano Prodi (2000 – 2004). Prior to being employed by the European Commission in 1991 Ben Smulders was for six years member of the Amsterdam bar and practised law in the international law firm Nauta Dutilh, of which he was elected partner in 1990. Since 2013, Ben Smulders has been a Guest Professor of International and European Competition Law at the Free University of Brussels. He is also a Visiting Professor of Law of Rule of Law at the College of Europe in Bruges, a member of the Scientific Council of its Global Competition Law Centre, a Visiting Professor at the Collegio Europeo affiliated to the Universita' degli Studi di Parma, member of the Scientific Board of its Centro di Studi in Affari Europei e Internazionali and teaches yearly at the Université Paris 2 Panthéon-Assas. He sits in the Supervisory Board of the T.M.C. Asser Institute in The Hague and is a substitute judge (Raadsheer plaatsvervanger) in the Court of Appeal of The Hague (commercial chamber). Ben Smulders co-edits the Common Market Law Review , teaches and authored numerous publications on EU law related subjects, in particular on the protection of the rule of law.
Ana Palacio, a lawyer specializing in European and International law, was the first female Minister of Foreign Affairs of Spain. Ms. Palacio has been a member of both the Spanish and European Parliaments, a member of Spain’s Council of State, and Senior VP and General Counsel of the World Bank Group. Ms. Palacio was a member of the Executive Committee and Senior VP for International Affairs of AREVA, and she currently sits on various corporate boards. She is a visiting professor at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and at the UM6P University.
Estelle Cantillon, Université libre de Bruxelles
José Elías is a policy officer at DG ENER (European Commission) dealing with renewables and energy system integration policy. Previously I worked in DG Competition (European Commission) in the Chief Economist Team and in the case support and policy units for antitrust and for mergers. Prior to this, I worked in an economic consultancy dealing with competition and regulatory matters and in the Spanish and UK Telecommunications Authority. I hold bachelors’ degrees in law and in economics from Universidad Carlos II de Madrid (Spain) and masters in economics from the Toulouse School of Economics (France) and from the College of Europe (Belgium).
James Matthys-Donnadieu is currently Chief Customers, Markets & Systems Officer at Elia System Operator. He is also a supervisory board member of Power exchange EPEX Spot SE, of TSO holding HGRT as well as of the Regional Coordination Center Coreso SA. Before joining Elia, he held positions as COO of the APX Group and CEO of its subsidiary Belpex and as member of the Management Board of APX-Endex BV. James holds a Master in Business Economics from the University of Antwerp and a Master in Business Administration from the Vlerick Management School.
Juan José Alba Ríos, joined Endesa in July 1997. He is currently in charge of regulatory affairs, where he is involved in all the aspects of the business: wholesale and retail market design and regulation, remuneration of distribution, tariffs and grid access charges, capacity payments, etc., as well as European legislation. Between 2000 and October 2004 he was the managing director of the European trading unit of Endesa and oversaw the Joint Venture with Morgan Stanley to develop this activity. Before 2000 he was in charge of regulatory affairs of the generation business at Endesa. Between 1986 and 1997 he was a researcher at the Instituto de Investigación Tecnológica (IIT), where he worked on regulation, modelling electricity markets and application of computer techniques to power systems and equipments. Juan J. Alba is member of the Management Committee of aelec (the association of the Spanish electricity industry) and the Advisory Council of ENTSO-e, he has been chairman of the Markets and Investments Committee of Eurelectric, member of the board of directors of EFET (the European Federation of Energy Traders), and co-chairman of its WG on financial regulation. He has been a member of the Supervisory Boards of Powernext (French Power Exchange) and Gielda Energii S.A. (Polish Power Exchange). He has a PhD in electrical engineering from Universidad Pontificia Comillas in Madrid.
Dr. Felix Engelsing is chairman of the 4th decision division of the Bundeskartellamt, which is responsible for merger and antitrust enforcement in the automobile, vehicles, services, agriculture, food industry and cosmetics sector. The division also deals with sustainability initiatives and patents/licences. Prior to that he headed the 2nd decision division responsible for e-commerce, retail trade, clothing and consumer electronics where he led unilateral conduct proceedings against Amazon. Before, he was chairman of the 8th decision division (electricity, gas, water, mineral oil/fuels) and the 10th decision division (abuse proceedings energy sector). Since starting his career in the Bundeskartellamt in 2000 Felix Engelsing was head of the German and European Antitrust Unit as well as the International Section where he co-chaired the ICN Unilateral Conduct Working Group. He also worked for the legal department where he litigated cases before the Federal Supreme Court. Felix Engelsing worked for an international law firm in Brussels and for the German Association of Municipalities in Bonn/Brussels. He studied law at the University of Münster, worked as research assistant and received his Ph.D. at the University of Bonn.
Marios Andrikopoulos, was born in Athens in 1974 and graduated from Doukas High School in 1992. He holds a Maîtrise en Droit from the Université Robert Schuman of Strasbourg, an LL.M in EC Law from the College of Europe (Bruges), a Master in International Economics and Management from SDA Bocconi (Milan) and a Master’s Degree (Master 2) in Specialized Public Law jointly awarded by the University of Athens and the Université Montesquieu - Bordeaux IV. He has also obtained the Diploma of the Academy of European Law of the European University Institute. He has been admitted to the Athens Bar Association in 2002 and became Lawyer before the Supreme Court in 2010, practicing since the beginning of his career within the field of corporate, administrative, civil law concerning both consulting and litigation. For several years he joined the legal departments of major corporations (HYGEIA GROUP, MARFIN INVESTMENT GROUP, MARFIN EGNATIA BANK). Since 2011 he deals with Energy Law issues, equally at consulting and litigation level. In 2012 participated as external collaborator of RAE in respect to the adoption of the Electricity Supply Code to Customers, whereas he is included to the list of Arbitrators, of RAE Permanent Arbitration Mechanism and has also published numerous articles. He has joined ELPEDISON SA since 2013, holding the position of Legal Director, having also successfully served as the first Data Protection Officer of the Company (DPO) between 2018-2022. As Legal Director of ELPEDISON has been uninterruptedly included within LEGAL500 GC Powerlist Greece and Cyprus in 2018.
Marieke Scholz, European Commission, DG Competition
Paolo Chiricozzi graduated in Law at the University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, having studied also at the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz (Germany). He has a Master’s Degree in EU Laws, Politics and Economics and attended courses in Management and Regulation at the London School of Economics, the SDA Bocconi (Milan) and the IESE Business School (Barcelona). He joined Enel in 2000 covering different roles within the Group, both in Rome and Brussels. Since 2014 he is Head of Antitrust and State Aid working between Rome and Brussels in the Function Europe of Enel. Paolo has managed the main competition cases of Enel Group during the last 20 years and has leaded Enel’s worldwide antitrust compliance programs (Italy, Slovakia, Romania, Colombia, Chile, Peru and Russia). He is a frequent speaker in international conferences and seminars on Energy Regulation, EU Law, Competition Law and State Aid. Since 2016 he is visiting Professor at Luiss University (Rome) within the Master in Management and Technology – Major in Energy Industry.
Albert Riera is an economist with a background in regulation, public policy and market design in the energy space, as well as expertise in competition policy across a variety of sectors. He joined the Cabinet of the Spanish Secretary of State for Energy in June 2022, after working for over 10 years as an economic consultant assisting governments, regulators, lawyers and private stakeholders in Europe, Latin America and the Middle East. He holds an M.A. in Economic Analysis from Universidad Carlos III and an M.Sc. in Experimental and Theoretical Physics from Cambridge University.
Omar Diaz, BonelliErede
Johannes Lübking is Principal Adviser in the Commission’s Recovery and Resilience Task Force, leading the negotiations with Member States within the framework of the Recovery and Resilience Facility, including on the REPowerEU chapters for energy matters, and coordinating the European Semester for all Member States. Before joining the Task Force in November 2020, he was lead negotiator in the Commission’s Tas Force for the negotiation of the COVID-19 vaccines and was head of DG Competition's antitrust unit in the sectors energy and environment, leading a number of antitrust investigations. From 2018 to 2019, he was also Acting Director of DG Competition’s energy and environment directorate, overseeing the work in the field of State aid and merger control. Prior to this, Mr Lübking headed various merger units, leading high-profile investigations in the sectors of telecom, IT, pharmaceuticals and financial services, as well as the Merger Case Support and Policy unit. Before joining the European Commission in 2001, Johannes Lübking worked for several years in private practice and as in-house counsel in Frankfurt/Germany. He holds a doctorate of the University of Göttingen/Germany and an LL.M of the European University Institute in Florence/Italy in International and European Law. He graduated in law at the University of Göttingen and passed the bar exam in Berlin.
Nicole Robins is a partner at the economics and finance consultancy Oxera. She heads Oxera’s State Aid practice and is the partner in charge of Oxera’s Brussels office. Nicole leads Oxera’s advice to clients on a wide range of economic and financial issues in state aid cases across a number of sectors, including the energy sector. She provides advice on state aid compliance, and advises beneficiaries, complainants and member states during notifications to, and investigations by, the European Commission, as well as in state aid litigation cases in front of the courts. In particular, she has taken part in General Court hearings on state aid matters on a number of occasions. Nicole also teaches on the postgraduate diploma course in Economics for Competition Law at King’s College London. Nicole was named the ‘Economist of the Year’ in the Global Competition Review Awards in 2020.
Marc Van Hoof is currently Director of the team”energy, enterprise, environment, defense” in the Commission's Legal Service. Marc Van Hoof started his work as a lawyer at the Commission within the Directorate-General for the Internal Market and Industry (1986) and then joined the cabinet of Commissioner Karel Van Miert (Transport and then competition ‐ 1991/2000). He then became the Head of Cabinet of Commissioner Mario Monti (Competition ‐ 2000/2004) and continued his career as Director for State Aid to the Directorate-General for Competition (2004/2007) he was then appointed Director in the Commission's Legal Service ( first Social Affairs and Consumers team and then internal market, environment defense and energy team and during one year he was also in charge of the Trade team)
Reinier Koppelaar. Mr R.J. (Reinier) Koppelaar (1974) is acting director for Energy markets at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate policy. In that capacity he is responsible for the development of policies of the Dutch government on energy markets, securing reliability, affordability and the road to climate neutrality. Before this he fulfilled several roles in the Ministry of Economic Affairs all related to the energy transition. Prior to this he worked for 7 years at the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sports, his last position as manager in the COVID-19 directorate after several roles focusing on health system policies and strategy. Before his work at the Ministry he was posted at the Dutch Embassy in Beijing, China as Counsellor for Health, welfare and Sport. Reinier also worked as a political adviser and started his career at the Ministry of Economic Affairs in the field of Industrial policy and Energy policy. He studied International Economics and Economic Geography in Utrecht.
Fabien Roques, Compass Lexecon
Carsten Grave is a partner with Linklaters LLP, Düsseldorf, Germany. He is specialised in European and German competition law. He advises clients on merger control and foreign direct investment pro-ceedings, on antitrust-related litigation, state aid cases as well as cartel proceedings. Carsten holds a degree in both law and economics. He lectures at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf. His most recent publications covered judicial review of the German competition authority’s deci-sions as well as discovery of evidence in cartel damage claims. Carsten is featured in Chambers Global 2021 as “well-established figure in the market” and by GCR 2022 as “very sharp merger control expert”. He has advised, inter alia, E.ON on various strategic transactions, such as (i) the far-reaching asset swap with RWE and (ii) the sale of its 46.6% stake in Uniper to Fortum; Deutsche Börse on several transactions, including the proposed mergers with London Stock Ex-change and the New York Stock Exchange.
Peter Willis is a partner at Bird & Bird LLP. He advises businesses on EU and UK competition and energy regulatory issues, and in particular on the Clean Energy Package, the implementation and interpretation of EU network codes and guidelines, and REMIT. He has advised on a number of appeals to the ACER Board of Appeal. He has advised numerous market participants on REMIT compliance. He advised the market participant in a REMIT investigation by the Dutch ACM that resulted in the first published REMIT non-infringement decision in the EU, and is currently advising on a number of other REMIT and market manipulation investigations around Europe.
Ulrich Scholz served as co-head of Freshfields global power & utilities and low carbon energy group. He specialises in competition and trade, with a particular focus on regulatory and contractual issues relating to the energy sector. He also advises in proceedings before EU and German competition and regulatory authorities and represents energy utilities before national courts and arbitral tribunals. Within the field of energy regulation, Ulrich regularly advises on the whole range of EU and national energy regulation, including certification procedures, unbundling requirements, network access and network fees, implication of the EU Green deal and equivalent national law on renewable energies.
Nicola Pesaresi is Head of Unit at the Directorate General for Competition of the European Commission. He is currently responsible for State aid in the Energy sector. He has been previously responsible for cross-cutting policies and level playing field in the Task Force for the preparation and conduct of the negotiations with the United Kingdom under Art. 50 TFEU. He has previously been responsible for State aid policy, scrutiny and coordination. He joined the European Commission in 1999 after working at the Bank of Italy, in the department for banking supervision, for nine years. He is an economist by education, graduated from Yale University with a Master of Arts in Economics, as well as a degree in Economics and Social Sciences from Bocconi University. He was born in Italy in 1963.
Giorgio Motta is a partner in the Brussels office of Skadden Arps. He has more than 20 years of experience in European Union (EU) and International competition law. Giorgio leads Skadden's practice in the area of state aid, advising a number of companies in the energy industry as well as in state aid proceedings in the area of taxation. He also regularly advises clients on antitrust aspects of mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures for companies in a variety of industries, as well as on competition law issues relating to cartels, vertical restraints and dominance.
Francesco Maria Salerno is the Managing Partner of the firm’s Brussels office. Francesco Maria has a strong focus on State aid, having acted in several matters before the EU Commission and the courts in Luxembourg. Moreover, Francesco Maria is recognized for his expertise in the energy sector. He is the co-author of the book “State aid and the Energy Sector” as well as of several articles on energy regulation and competition law. Francesco Maria joins the firm after 18 years with a leading international law firm where he began in 1999 working in its Rome office. In 2005 he transferred to the Brussels office of the same firm, and was appointed a Senior Attorney in 2010. After earning both Masters and Ph.D. degrees from the London School of Economics, Francesco Maria continued his academic and research interests and several of his articles and essays on State aids, independent authorities and antitrust issues have been published by prestigious, European and American legal publishing houses.
Leigh Hancher, Professor of European Law at the University of Tilburg
Cani Fernández-Vicién. Graduated in Law with merit from the University of Zaragoza in 1986. Special Degree in European Law for the Free University of Brussels in 1987, with Great Distinction. In 1986 she was awarded with the NATO Fellowship Program. Between 1987 and February 2020, she worked as a lawyer in private practice specialized in EU and Competition Law. She also taught those topics at prestigious Spanish and foreign universities such as Toulouse School of Economics, McGeorge University of the Pacific, Carlos III University, Autonomous University of Barcelona and Barcelona Graduate School of Economics, among others. From 1993 to 1997 she was référendaire at the Court of Justice of the European Union. She was the first woman to be appointed as a Co-Chair of the Antitrust Committee of the International Bar Association (IBA). In addition, she held the position of Vice-chair of the Economics Committee of the Antitrust Section at the American Bar Association (ABA), Officer of the International Cartel Task Force of the ABA Antitrust Section, and member of the IBA LPD Council. She was also a Non Governmental Advisor (NGA) of the EU Commission and the National Commission for Markets and Competition before the International Competition Network (ICN). Among her many distinctions awarded for her professional practice stands out her recognition as one of the 30 best specialists in Competition/Antitrust worldwide in the Best of the Best category of the Expert Guides year after year; her recognition as one of the "100 Women in Antitrust Worldwide" by Global Competition Review (GCR). In 2018 and 2019 Chambers named her "Star Individual" in her specialty in Spain. She is the first woman to obtain the “Outstanding Contribution to the Legal Profession” award by Chambers. In 2020 she was appointed President of the Spanish National Commission for Markets and Competition. Since January 2021 she is member of the OECD Competition Committee Bureau. Additionally, she is the author of numerous publications in the area of Competition and EU Law, and a regular speaker on these matters.
Martijn Snoep. Since September 1, 2018, Martijn Snoep has been the Chairman of the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM). Mr. Snoep obtained his law degree from Erasmus University Rotterdam. Until his appointment at ACM, he worked at De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek for 28 years. Operating from both their Amsterdam and Brussels locations, Mr. Snoep gave advice to businesses about the application of competition law in the Netherlands and abroad. As managing partner, he stood at the helm of the firm between 2010 and 2016. Other current positions of Mr. Snoep are: Substitute judge in the Court of Appeals in Amsterdam, Vice Chair of the Board of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Member of the Board of Trustees of the Europa Institute (Leiden University), Member of the Societal Advisory Board to the Law Department (Utrecht University) and Member of the Scientific Council of the Global Competition Law Centre (College of Europe, Bruges).
Dr. Natalie Harsdorf-Borsch serves since December 21 as Acting Director General of the Austrian Competition Authority. Before that she held different roles in the agency such as Deputy Director General, Managing Director, Head of Legal service as well as team leader and case handler. Since 2019 Natalie Harsdorf-Borsch acts as elected coordinator for the OECD Competition Bureau vis-à-vis UNCTAD. Harsdorf-Borsch studied Law at the Universities of Vienna (Dr.iur.) and Dublin and also holds a law degree of the College of Europe in Bruges. Secondments to the European Court of Justice, the Canadian Competition Bureau and the European Commission added to her professional experience in competition law. 2016 year she was voted by Global Competition Review one of 26 Top Women enforcers worldwide. Also, she is a co-founder of the women competition network Austria and author/editor of numerous publications on competition law. In 2022 she received as first woman in public service the award as Austrian lawyer of the year.
Benoît Cœuré is President of the Autorité de la concurrence since January 2022. He is a graduate of the Ecole polytechnique and the Ensae, Benoît Cœuré also holds a Master of Advanced Studies in economic analysis and policy and a degree in Japanese. He started his career at the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies before joining the Directorate General of the Treasury as economic advisor to the Director. Deputy Director General of the Treasury between 2009 and 2011, he lead the foreign trade support policy and general reflection on France's economic policy as Chief Economist. As a member of the Executive Board and of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank from 2012 to 2018, he was responsible for market transactions, market infrastructures supervision and European and International relations. He chaired the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures of the Bank for International Settlements for six years where he focused on the digitisation of payment systems, the rise of crypto assets and the emergence of tech giants in financial services. In 2019, Benoît Cœuré took over as head of the innovation division of the Bank for International Settlements.
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