European Competition Day 2026, Dublin, Ireland 

19:00 - 22:30

Cultural event at EPIC Museum

8:30 - 9:30

Registration

9:30 - 09:35

Opening remarks and welcome Brian McHugh Chair, Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC)

9:35 - 9:45

Opening Address, Peter Burke TD, Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment

09:45 - 10:00

Keynote Speech, Teresa Ribera, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission for a Clean, Just and Competitive Transition.

10:00 - 10:30

In Conversation: John Fingleton CBE, Executive Chair, Fingleton

10:30 - 11:30

“Communicating the Benefits of Competition”

Moderator: Isolde Goggin, President, International Institute of Communications; former Chairperson of the CCPC.

Panellists:

• Natalie Harsdorf, Director General, Austrian Federal Competition Authority.
• Andrea Coscelli CBE, Senior Partner and Head of Europe, Keystone Strategy; former Chief Executive, UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)
• Jolanta Ivanauskienė, Chair of the Lithuanian Competition Council (KT)

This session will examine how competition authorities can communicate the benefits of competition clearly, credibly and effectively. It will consider how the value of competition for consumers, businesses and the wider economy can be made more visible and better understood.

11:30 - 12:00

Refreshment break

12:00 - 13:00

“Article 102 and Digital Markets: Enforcement, Innovation and Market Access”

Moderator: Tommaso Valletti, Professor of Economics, Imperial College Business School

Panellists

• Massimiliano Kadar, Head of Unit, Antitrust: IT, Internet and Consumer Electronics, Directorate-General for Competition, European Commission.
• Clare Kelly, Senior Competition Counsel, Google
• Rolands Mesters, Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of Balsio (formerly BirdyChat)

This session will examine the application of Article 102 TFEU in digital markets and the operation of the Digital Markets Act. It will bring together regulatory, business, economic and start-up perspectives on enforcement, innovation, contestability and access to digital markets.

13:00 - 14:00

Lunch

14:00 - 15:00

“Merger Control and the Single Market: Scale, Competitiveness and Competitive Constraint”

Moderator: Jorge Padilla, Chair of the International Board, Compass Lexecon.

Panellists:

• Axel Desmedt, President, Belgian Competition Authority
• Maria Jaspers, Director, Policy and Strategy, Directorate-General for Competition, European Commission
• Kate McKenna, Partner, Competition and Regulation Group, Matheson

This session will examine how EU merger control should respond to growing emphasis on scale, investment, innovation and European competitiveness, while continuing to protect effective competition. Against the backdrop of the European Commission’s review of the EU Merger Guidelines, speakers will consider how the revised framework should assess potential efficiencies and wider competitive benefits, while maintaining rigorous scrutiny of market power, the loss of competitive constraints and risks to market structure.

15:00 - 15:15

Closing remarks Brian McHugh, Chair, CCPC

15:15 - 16:30

Networking reception in the Planted Glasshouse, The National Botanic Gardens of Ireland