In January 2011, the European Commission decided that the proposed merger between Aegean Airlines and Olympic Air should be prohibited because it would have resulted in a quasi-monopoly on the domestic Greek air transport market. This decision shows that traditional airline merger remedies, such as slot releases, are sometimes insufficient to allay concerns of monopolization. It also illustrates that the Commission will take a tough stance on competition policy, even when facing strong political pressure to clear the merger for the sake of the economy.
Following a 2007 cartel decision of the Greek competition authority imposing a total fine of EUR 48.3m on seven companies for information sharing, price fixing and retail price maintenance, a Greek court handed down a criminal judgment yesterday (12 April 2011), imposing fines of 9,000 euros on each of the three managers of one of the firms. The case was brought by the public prosecutor.
While the amount of the fines is relatively low, this appears to be the first such criminal conviction in Greece. It shows that the criminalisation of antitrust laws in Europe gains ground.
The Greek law applicable at the time of the infringement made provision only for pecuniary sanction but has changed since and now includes the possibility of prison sentences.
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