J 2026

IF YOU CANNOT PROHIBIT OR DIVIDE IT, GO FOR IT: PROTECTING COMPETITION WHILE PROMOTING TECHNOLOGICAL CHAMPIONS IN THE EUROPEAN UNION

ŠMEJKAL, Václav

Basic information

Original name

IF YOU CANNOT PROHIBIT OR DIVIDE IT, GO FOR IT: PROTECTING COMPETITION WHILE PROMOTING TECHNOLOGICAL CHAMPIONS IN THE EUROPEAN UNION

Authors

ŠMEJKAL, Václav

Edition

Bratislava Law Review, Slovensko, Comenius University Bratislava, Faculty of Law, 2026, 2585-7088

Other information

Language

English

Type of outcome

Article in a journal

Field of Study

50501 Law

Country of publisher

Slovakia

Confidentiality degree

is not subject to a state or trade secret

Impact factor

Impact factor: 0.300 in 2024

Marked to be transferred to RIV

Yes

Organization unit

CEVRO University

Keywords in English

European Union; Competition; Antitrust; Rivalry; Uncertainty; Digitalisation; Industrial Policy

Tags

International impact, Reviewed
Changed: 4/9/2026 16:32, Mgr. Jan Neugebauer, Ph.D., MBA

Abstract

In the original language

Competition protection in the EU faces the question of how to deal with two simultaneous challenges. The first challenge is that modern technologies, especially digital technologies, have definitively become the driving force behind innovation, competitiveness, and the future shape of the economy. Traditional competition models do not fully capture digital, platform-based, and ecosystem markets. At the same time, EU competition policy is to be integrated into a broader industrial strategy aimed at strategic autonomy vis-à-vis powers outside the EU. Both challenges, each in their own way, put pressure on traditional assumptions and criteria for protecting economic competition. The paper seeks to enrich the discussion by proposing a joint solution to these two challenges, rebalancing the traditional concept of competitive rivalry with an alternative concept of competitive uncertainty, which could offer a meaningful response. Using the concept of uncertainty, EU competition policy and law could adequately respond to the need for competition regulation both in the digital environment and in those selected sectors in which the EU wants to ensure its strategic autonomy by supporting the growth of companies and their clusters. An initial analysis of this concept reveals not only its benefits but also its limitations, which argue for its judicious use only in selected sectors.