The European Commission is falling behind

Date: 19/06/1997

in its 'bread-and-butter' work of investigating company mergers and illegal subsidies due chronic staff shortages. In its annual competition report, the Commission revealed that the backlog of anti-trust cases had grown to 1,200 last year after falling below 1,000 in previous years. “This is a very serious problem,” admitted Competition Commissioner Karel van Miert. He said the mere 450 officials at his disposal were simply unable to keep up with a rising workload and had to concentrate on high-profile cases. Van Miert expects the case-load to increase next year, adding to the burden on his staff.