Do the election manifestos of the major German parties have the power of the big companies in mind? What do they say about the monopoly power of the big tech companies and their dominance in AI? How do they view market power in the food sector, unfair trade practices and inflation? How would they like to develop competition law?
These issues hardly play a role in the current election campaign. Yet they are of great importance, as developments in the USA show. So let’s take a look at the election manifestos to see how the German parties are dealing with these issues. There are clear political differences: the CDU/CSU wants to weaken competition law. Statements on restricting corporate power and market power, on the other hand, can be found among the Greens, the Left, the BSW and to some extent the SPD. There are overlaps in terms of market power in the food sector and the protection of farmers from unfair trading practices. The CDU/CSU is also calling for this. In the tech sector, the problem of power remains underexposed. Tech power and dependencies on big tech are mentioned here and there, but there are only a few concrete approaches to action beyond the enforcement of existing rules.
Competition law: the Union wants to enable more market concentration
The CDU/CSU wants to enable more company takeovers in Europe and thus allow even more market concentration. However, it conceals this in its election program. It states that the Union is committed to “modern antitrust and competition law that takes the global market as its yardstick.” When controlling and approving mergers, the first step is to clarify how the affected markets are defined. If a market is regional or national, problematically high market shares are achieved more quickly than in European or global markets. The global market as a benchmark in the CDU election program therefore means that more mergers should be possible in Europe. CDU party leader Merz also explicitly called for this at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
The proposal to use the global market as a benchmark is problematic: the market definition in merger control examines the real economic circumstances; it is not sensible to determine this in advance. Furthermore, examples such as Volkswagen or Boeing show that size is by no means a guarantee for innovation and attractive products. More mergers also mean more market power, which in turn means more political influence, more pricing power and less choice for consumers and suppliers.
The CDU/CSU would like to reverse the strengthening of antitrust law under the traffic light government. The traffic light government had given the Federal Cartel Office the option of ordering measures up to and including the sale of parts of companies in so-called sector investigations. Such unbundling can be independent of abuse: the cartel office does not have to prove abuse by the individual companies, but “only” the existence of structural problems that cannot be solved by weaker interventions. The Union wants the Federal Cartel Office to only be allowed to intervene in cases of legal violations. This makes the Bundeskartellamt’s work more difficult, as the hurdles for proving abuse of market power are high, the proceedings take a long time and structural problems in markets that are subject to abuse are not taken into account. This is why the Ampel’s antitrust law reform was the right step to expand antitrust law instruments in view of the increasing market concentration in Germany and Europe over the past few years.
The Greens would like to initiate a similar tightening at European level as in Germany. They are thus going in the opposite direction to the CDU/CSU. The Green-led Ministry of Economic Affairs was also instrumental in driving forward the German antitrust law reform. At the same time, smaller mergers are to be relieved of bureaucratic procedures.
The SPD and the Left Party have no general statements on competition law, only on individual sectors such as food and tech (see below). The BSW writes that they want to limit market power and dominant companies break up. The FDP only has two statements on more competition on the railways and between telecommunications companies in its program. Otherwise, market power does not appear to be an issue for the FDP.
Most parties want to control market power in the food sector
The food sector and the buying power of retailers appear in most party manifestos. Market concentration among supermarkets and discounters has increased massively in recent years. Inflation and the farmers’ protests have intensified the debate on the distribution of profits in the food sector. Initial analyses by the Monopolies Commission show signs of competition problems and market power in the sector.
The Union also wants to improve the control of abuse by strong buyers and protect producers and suppliers from unfair trading practices. This refers to unfair contractual clauses and practices that large buyers such as supermarkets use their greater negotiating power to impose on smaller suppliers, such as late payments, retroactive contract amendments or listing fees for the inclusion of products in the range.
Due to rising food prices, the SPD wants to keep a close eye on the market power of the few large supermarkets. It wants to strengthen competition law controls and price monitoring of selected foodstuffs.
The Greens also want an competition review of the food trade to ensure fair producer prices and competition. The position of farmers in the supply chain should be strengthened. There should be a requirement to purchase at cost-covering prices and the obligation to conclude binding written contracts.
In view of the market power of slaughterhouse, dairy and retail groups, The Left Party is calling for a strong competition law and decisive action by the Federal Cartel Office against large supermarket chains. There should be new price supervision and, where necessary, minimum producer prices for farmers. Monopolies should be structurally separated.
BSW wants to limit the market power of corporations in processing and trade. It sees legally regulated minimum producer prices as a possible instrument for adequate prices for farmers. The FDP sees no need for action when it comes to market power in the food sector. It wants to “gear agricultural policy more towards the entrepreneurial activities of farmers” and make farmers independent of state subsidies.
Digitalisation and AI are big topics, tech power is not
Digitalisation and artificial intelligence play a major role in the election manifestos. Digitalisation is a cross-cutting issue that runs through many policy areas. However, most parties barely address the power of the big tech companies. Only a few parties see a need for action beyond the implementation of existing laws.
The Left Party is most likely to advocate a tightening of the rules: it wants to exploit the scope for breaking up monopolies, strengthen competition law and ban personalized online advertising. The SPD and the Greens advocate the consistent implementation of European rules for platforms such as the Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act.
The Union wants to strengthen Europe’s digital sovereignty. This requires uniform rules, “modern competition law” (see above for this formulation) and digital infrastructure such as a European cloud.
All parties want investment in data centers and digital infrastructure. In the case of the Greens, the Left and the BSW, this is coupled with the promotion of open source applications and platforms oriented towards the common good.
The desire to strengthen Germany and Europe as an AI location can be heard everywhere. What AI should be used for and what impact it will have is hardly discussed in depth. The SPD would like to give special consideration to social innovations and projects and structures geared towards the common good in AI funding, the Greens want to use AI within the framework of “our common values”, while the CDU/CSU only want to manage the “risks of AI” but not miss out on any opportunities through “over-regulation”. The FDP seems to want to make as much as possible “AI-supported”: from AI-supported citizen assistants to AI-controlled systems for recognizing animal welfare. That remains buzzword-like. The Left wants to ensure a fair distribution of the benefits of automation, AI and robotics.
Conclusion: a controversial and underexposed field
If one assumes that a CDU/CSU-led government with the participation of the SPD or the Greens will be formed after the federal elections, the issue of competition law is likely to be controversial. The SPD, Greens, Left Party and BSW are more likely to see the restriction of corporate power and market power as a sensible goal. The CDU/CSU, on the other hand, wants to weaken competition law. There are overlaps with regard to market power in the food sector and the protection of farmers from unfair trading practices. Details are also likely to be controversial when it comes to implementation.
In the tech sector, the problem of power remains underexposed. Tech power and the dependencies on big tech flash up here and there, but there are hardly any comprehensive answers. Digital sovereignty is desired, but the focus is more on industrial policy investments and, in some cases, the implementation of existing digital rules. This is not wrong, but it needs to be supplemented by more far-reaching approaches to counter the existing concentration of chips, the major cloud providers (Microsoft, Amazon, Google), AI models, data and distribution channels. If the market structures in the tech sector and the dominance of the big tech companies in AI development are not tackled more strongly, the parties’ ideas will remain illusory.
In the emerging coalitions, it will definitely be important to demand political solutions to the increasing market concentration and concentrated tech power. This is where we as civil society are in demand.
Further information
- Oxfam Germany asked the parties a question about market power in its election check. The results are similar and can be read here.
- In addition to the election manifestos, I would like to draw your attention to the recommendations of the Monopolies Commission to the next German government. They are much more detailed and propose, among other things, improvements to merger control and better recording of competitively questionable developments in clouds and AI.
Support us in our fight against market concentration and monopolisation. We do not want to accept that individual corporations control important markets and communication channels. By becoming a supporting member, you will help us to drive forward our work for a diverse and democratically viable economy in the long term. Become a supporting member of Rebalance Now now!
Photo of the Reichstag by Nasir Khan Saikat (Wikimedia Commons), license: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported
