Margrethe Vestager: a symbol of all that’s wrong with the EU

Margrethe Vestager, the EU’s competition commissioner, wields enormous power over industry, and abuses it, says Matthew Lynn.

Margrethe Vestager, competition commissioner of the European Commission © Geert Vanden Wijngaert/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Vestager: out of control © Getty
(Image credit: Margrethe Vestager, competition commissioner of the European Commission © Geert Vanden Wijngaert/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Margrethe Vestager loves to portray herself as the European Union’s competition powerhouse. The bloc’s competition commissioner talks endlessly about how she is turning Brussels into a self-proclaimed regulatory superpower and how she’s the only person willing to stand up to the power of Big Tech, dishing out fines so huge they are now a major source of EU revenues. Vestager is the closest thing the European Commission has to a superstar.

But there is a problem. It is increasingly becoming clear that she is also out of control and that her frequently illegal decisions, and her absurd faith in the power of regulation, are doing huge damage to the European economy.

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Matthew Lynn

Matthew Lynn is a columnist for Bloomberg, and writes weekly commentary syndicated in papers such as the Daily Telegraph, Die Welt, the Sydney Morning Herald, the South China Morning Post and the Miami Herald. He is also an associate editor of Spectator Business, and a regular contributor to The Spectator. Before that, he worked for the business section of the Sunday Times for ten years. 

He has written books on finance and financial topics, including Bust: Greece, The Euro and The Sovereign Debt Crisis and The Long Depression: The Slump of 2008 to 2031. Matthew is also the author of the Death Force series of military thrillers and the founder of Lume Books, an independent publisher.