Prof. René Repasi, Member of the European Parliament: Digital Markets Act, European Digital Agenda
René Repasi is a Professor in EU Law at Erasmus University Rotterdam. and a Member of the European Parliament, seating at three committees decisive for legislating in the area of competition in digital markets and the DMA more specifically: the Committee for the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO), Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee (ECON) and Legal Affairs Committee (JURI)
Prof. Repasi has a clear and nuanced vision on how to intensify the digital economy in the EU, and he articulates messages which while still being quite far from the antitrust mainstream thinking are getting more and more momentum and impact. The new video –
Among other issues, René shares his vivid, informative, detailed and very insightful experience of being an EU Law Professor (in general) and his quite critical (and I imagine resonating with many academics) observations about the way how the research grants mechanisms are functioning (and where they are not functioning well). It was a very open and pleasant for me conversation, covering inter alia the following:
– the historical moment for the EU in the area of digital markets
– which areas of digital markets should receive priority
– creating foundations for European challengers of the entrenched status quo
– the role of Europe as a geo-economic polity in the global digital race
– how precisely should European digital challengers emerge and scale up
interlinks between competition and other societal goals
– (what) should we learn from the West and from the East
– between digital romanticism and pragmatism
– digital resilience
– which provision of the DMA can be seen as a ‘nuclear option’
– latest signals of some BigTech to become more EU-centred/mindful
– which features should Europe advance further to become a global disruptive innovator
– how does an EU Law Professor see the mechanics of legislation from the inside
– EU law-making and infiltration of corporate interests
– do we over-grade within the Bologna process?
– funding bids: a full-time work?
– inflation of “groundbreaking” research
– European election as a crunch-time for EU competition policy
– intersection between the DMA and other EU laws aiming to regulate digital society
– constructive outline of the latest laws regulating digital area within the EU
– winning research grants in the EU academic (and not only) institutions
– where the system of research grants work well and what should be (categorically) changed
– recommendation to students
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The Digital Markets Research Hub is an independent academic initiative aiming at scrutinising the functioning of competition/regulation in digital markets. We host one-to-one interviews with leading policymakers, regulators and practitioners. We also organise online mini-workshops inviting high-profile experts and academics in various fields of digital competition law & policy to discuss the most vibrant issues of the ongoing regulatory reforms in digital markets. While having our clear normative stand on the matters discussed within the hub, we value different views and invite relevant stakeholders and thinkers representing the whole spectrum of reasonable positions on how to regulate competition in digital markets. All our materials are available at YouTube channel, which you are very welcome to subscribe to.
The interview is organised & conducted by Prof. Oles Andriychuk, Newcastle Law School, UK