Lack of balance between market power of large retail chains and small producers raises concerns in a number of EU member states as well as in countries outside EU. At the same time actions taken by policy makers differ to a large extent, ranging from guidelines and soft law to a full severity of law. Is any intervention necessary? When and why? Where do interests of consumers, producers and retailers meet?
| Moderator | |
 | Dr. Gundars Strautmanis The Council of the Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Gundars Strautmanis as a president of the Council of the Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry represents Latvia also in European Economic and Social Committee (EESC). Gundars Strautmanis has acted as President and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Limited liability company “Lattelecom”. He has also worked in management position of Canadian-Latvian joint venture “FORMULA” as well as in several management positions of the Riga Micro devices Research Institute “ALFA”. Gundars Strautmanis has graduated the Riga Polytechnic Institute and the Moscow Institute of Electronic Technology. He has also gained additional knowledge during studies at the York University (Canada) and the Columbia Business School (USA). |
| Panellists | |
 | Victoria Daskalova Tilburg Law and Economics Centre (TILEC), Tilburg University, the Netherlands Victoria Daskalova is a doctoral candidate at the Tilburg Law and Economics Center (TILEC) in Tilburg University in the Netherlands where she has worked since 2010. Originally from Pleven, Bulgaria, Victoria completed her Bachelor degree in Political Science at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, USA as a recipient of the Robertson scholarship. In Tilburg Law School, Victoria obtained an LLM degree in International and European Law (2010) and an MPhil degree in Legal Research (2011), both cum laude. As a student in Tilburg Law School, Victoria served as an Editor and an Editor-in-Chief of the Tilburg Law Review. During her PhD career, Victoria joined DG Competition of the European Commission for a brief atypical traineeship. Victoria’s research focuses on the legal and economic analysis of buyer power, the application of the EU competition rules and US antitrust law to buyer power issues, goals of competition law and challenges for competition law enforcement in a multi-level governance context. In addition to doing research, Victoria assists the faculty with teaching, supervision and coordination in the fields of EU law and EU competition law. |
 | Prof. William E. Kovacic George Washington University Law School and United Kingdom Competition and Markets Authority William E. Kovacic is the Global Competition Professor of Law and Policy at the George Washington University Law School and Director of its Competition Law Center. Since August 2013, he has served as a non-executive director on the board of the United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority. With Ariel Ezrachi, he edits the Journal of Antitrust Enforcement. From January 2006 to October 2011, William E. Kovacic was a member of the Federal Trade Commission and chaired the agency from March 2008 until March 2009. He was the Federal Trade Commission’s General Counsel from 2001 through 2004 and worked for the Federal Trade Commission from 1979 until 1983, first in the Bureau of Competition’s Planning Office and later as an attorney advisor to Commissioner George W. Douglas. |
 | Philippe Chauve The Food Task Force DG Competition, European Commission Philippe Chauve is the Head of the Food Task force at the Directorate General for Competition of the European Commission. The task-force is working on regulatory and antitrust issues in the food supply chain in Europe. This includes investigations of antitrust cases, the implementation of specific competition rules within the Common Agricultural Policy (concerning inter alia joint sales by farmers), the analysis of suppliers and retailers relationships. The Task force delivered in particular in 2014 an ambitious study on the impact of competition and other factors on choice and innovation in food products. Philippe Chauve has extensive experience in antitrust enforcement and merger procedures. Before heading the task Force he was enforcing competition rules in the energy sector, where he carried out a sector inquiry and many antitrust and merger investigations and implemented unprecedented remedies (such as the first large scale divestiture of assets in European Antitrust History in the E.ON electricity cases). In earlier jobs he also negotiated trade agreements for goods and services in the WTO and between the EU and its trading partners. |