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Treaty of Lisbon (No. 4)

The difficulty that Labour Members have when they make that argument is that the European Court of Justice will sometimes have to balance two conflicting objectives. If an objective is in the early articles to the treaty or in its preamble, that gives it greater weight than if it were in a protocol. This situation is completely different from the one in respect of monetary union. Professor Alan Riley makes three important points about the consequence of the downgrading of competition. This is not just a nebulous concept, because he gives three examples. He says that this change will make it easier to expand the scope for lawful state aid and to permit merger clearance on broader industrial policy grounds, and that it will weaken pressure for market liberalisation. That is, of course, the Sarkozy agenda. When President Sarkozy secured the downgrading of competition, he said:"““We have obtained a major reorientation of the objectives of the Union””." That is the key point. He continued:"““The word protection is no longer taboo.””" He also described competition as a ““dogma””.