Introduction

Shedding new light on the foundations of european competition law, this book is a legal and historical study of the emerging law and its evolution through the 1980s. It retraces the development and critical junctures of competition law not only at the level of the european economic community but also at the level of major member states of the eec. The chapters here reflect a close collaboration among lawyers and historians and capitalize on previously unavailable source materials. The book examines several key themes including: the influence of national and international competition law on the development of eec competition law; the drafting of the regulations that lead to the development of modern eu competition law; the role of the european court of justice in establishing the protection of competition as a central pillar of the common market; the internal dynamics, ideologies and tensions within the competition directorate general (dg iv) of the european commission; and the role of industrial policy in european integration.