AGCM

PRESS RELEASE

PRESIDENT PITRUZZELLA ON “RADIO ANCH’IO”: MORE COMPETITION FOR BUSINESSES AND CONSUMERS

“The protection of free competition serves businesses and consumers: to honest businesses to compete fairly with each other; to consumers, to reduce prices and to improve the quality of goods and services”. In today’s episode of the radio programme “Radio anch’io”, presented by Giorgio Zanchini on Rai Radio Uno, Antitrust President Giovanni Pitruzzella reviewed the main issues concerning the regulation of the market, answering directly the many questions made by the listeners.

The interview started by looking at the European perspective. Pitruzzella first reiterated that “Europe matters a lot, but not only negatively because it imposes rules: it is essential to address the problems of our time on a scale that cannot be purely national”. According to the President of the Antitrust, Professor of Constitutional Law, “Europe has shown its institutional fragility, but despite difficulties and shortcomings the crisis was tackled: now reform is needed to strengthen the democratic power and increase solidarity even through the establishment of a special Fund against unemployment”.

To a specific question by the presenter on the recent judgement of the Strasbourg Court against Italy with regards to the non-recognition of civil unions for homosexuals, Pitruzzella replied: “It does not give us specific timeframes, but gives us targets that are to be reached. Personally, I share this thought: there is room to adapt the indications of the Court to the national reality”.

During the programme, a topic touched by many interventions was that of competition between taxis and the Uber platform. “The issues – said the Antitrust President in this respect – demonstrates a characteristic feature of our economy due to the technological revolution. Here one can then react either like the Wild West, where everyone does what one wants; or else one can block the innovation. Both would be wrong methods. Uber is a positive phenomenon, but rules must be set, everyone must compete on equal terms for the benefit of the citizens”. He added: “The goal is to extend as much as possible the forms of urban mobility that do not involve the use of private cars”.

Another issue addressed in the episode of “Radio anch’io”, during which the President of the Consumers Association Rosario Trefiletti also intervened, in particular concerned the energy market. Based on the numerous reports by consumers, the Antitrust Authority recently opened an investigation on the issue of invoices raised by the main operators in the sector. “We worked in full collaboration with the Authority for Energy – explained Pitruzzella – to verify whether these complaints were founded or not: if at the end of the investigation these will be founded, the companies will have to pay financial penalties and change their behaviour”.

Rome, 22 July 2015