The phenomenon of internationalisation of different economies, especially in the euro-American environment, globalisation, freedom of capitals, innovations in all activity sectors and closely interrelated technological changes have promoted an intense debate about their repercussions on competition defence policies and the answers that these should provide. Economic interdependence has increased rapidly in recent years, and the culmination of the process of Monetary Union at the end of this year 2001 and the amplification of the European Union integrating more than 26 countries will encourage this trend. Such inertias are irreversible and unstoppable as long as once they are the development of the dynamics of managerial and therefore human activity of hundreds of millions of people. With these processes one has to necessarily count on excellent circumstances when valuing competition defence policies. The volume of international trade has been increased notably and the flows of cross-border investment have experienced a similar trend. Companies, all companies, but especially those of more entity and weight in basic and strategic sectors, have to continually assume the challenges that establishing a global presence in the market entails. This irreversible situation unleashes a wave of alliances and trans-national concentrations that surpass borders and jurisdictions.
In an international context where our current situation is of more representation in the European Union and the whole Euro-American orbit, open and loyal competition in the markets, especially in the basic markets of resources, supply increases giving rise on one hand to the increment in the variety of better quality products and services at the citizens' disposition and on the other hand, also important, to a reduction of prices that allows the acquisitive capacity of all citizens to increase. The decrease of inflation favoured by competition defence policies, together with the stimulus for productivity, innovation and creativity that it causes, means that managerial and personal activity is increased in the whole social weave with highly positive repercussions on creation and improvement of employment, as well as on the competitive capacity of our managerial weave in a more and more open and global external environment.
In this current context it is important to return to the principles and to remember that competition is directly related with freedom and the free market. In addition, freedom is always and should be united with responsibility. For that reason I wanted to highlight in the first place the legal, economic and political importance of the theme that we are concerned with: the defence and impulse of competition.
James Mc Gill Buchanan, Nobel Prize for Economy in 1986, wrote a book together with Geoffrey Brennan entitled La Razón de las Normas in the Spanish translation and subtitled Constitutional Political Economy: "At least since the XVIII century, and especially since the time of Adam Smith, the influence of rules has been understood ('laws and institutions' in Smith's terminology) by social results, and this relationship has provided the base for one of the central themes of economic analysis or political economy, just as it is derived especially from its classic foundations".
If the rules influence in the results and if some results are better than others, it follows that to the extent that the rules can be chosen, the study and analysis of rules and comparative institutions become the selfsame object of our reflection."
Well, it is necessary to speak of two great methods or systems of rules in order to achieve certain results within economies in general and in particular the free enterprise economies: those systems that give priority to protection and interventionism, or those that give priority to expert competition.
Competition is a fight, but with "fair play"; sporting spirit respecting the rules of the game; fighting for coordination of different interests; fighting to better serve the preferences of potential clients. Competing has a lot to do with being competent so that everyone in his or her environment of personal and managerial performance strives to improve. Competition is democracy in economic relationships. It means transforming a culture of protection into one of competition, of competence. Success is also in participating, in taking a business risk to participate with all the difficulties that it implies.
In my opinion, we are at a moment in which we can begin to consider, feel and speak of a certain Hispanic superiority complex as opposed to Europe and America that substitutes the ancestral Hispanic inferiority complex. We are not in Europe and in America, but rather we are Europe, and in many aspects, we are in America. Spain occupies a central and openly intense position in Euro-America.
I say this because our 1978 Spanish Constitution has pending, in the economic environment, an interpretation in accordance with the text of its articles in connection with free competition. I personally believe this.
I will explain myself: Article 1 of the Constitution reads: "Spain is constituted in a social and democratic State of Law that propounds freedom, justice, equality and political pluralism as superior values of its juridical classification." On the other hand, section 2 of article 9 reads: "the public authorities should promote conditions so that freedom and equality of the individual and of the groups of which they are made up are real and effective; removing the obstacles that impede or hinder their fullness and facilitating the participation of all citizens in political, economic, cultural and social life." And in Article 10 it says: "A person's dignity, inviolable rights that are inherent, free development of personality, respect for the law and the rights of others is the foundation of political order and social peace." In addition, the 1978 Spanish Constitution must be the only one in the world where duties are referred to before rights. Article 35 says: "All Spaniards have the duty of working, and the right to work, free choice of profession or occupation, promotion through work and sufficient remuneration to satisfy their necessities and those of their family, without sexual discrimination in any circumstance."
Well, in accordance with the demands of the general economy, competition defence is conceived in Law as a command to the public authorities that it connects directly with Article 38 of our Constitution. But it also does so with Article 33 and Article 10, first and foremost of the First Title of Rights and Fundamental Duties where it is said that a person's dignity, the inviolable rights that are inherent within him, free development of personality, respect for the law and the rights of others is the foundation of political order and social peace. In this way, the exercise of company freedom and personal entrepreneurship are a consubstantial sign of fundamental individual freedom.
Indeed: without property it is not possible to undertake managerial projects and without managerial agents one cannot speak of competition because the active personal substance of the competitive connection would be lacking.
So that beneficial effects appear in our economy sometimes withered by interventionism, anticompetitive agreements or practices and collective pressure, it is necessary to enlarge the field of exertion of freedom and independent responsibility in order to strengthen human action that transforms the subject on which it acts. Enlarging the field of freedom is enlarging the field of private property of goods. Freedom, responsibility, independence and property are interlaced in a radical way: freedom facilitates profitable use of property, and property that provides the setting for the right of free disposition. Property facilitates the maximum exploitation of growth opportunities. It allows us to develop our enterprising abilities, facilitating the discovery of our skills and that of the goods that are at our exclusive disposition, contributing to the economic development of the whole society.
From these principles are derived those expressed in the Law 52/1999, of 28th December, of the Amendment of the Law 18/1989 that culminates the reformation process begun with the Royal Decree - Law 6/1999, of 16th April, of Urgent Measures for liberalization and increment of competition, as regards control of concentrations. There it is said that "Spanish economic policy orientation rests on the conviction that stable and non inflationary growth of the economy and, consequently, the creation of employment, require a preponderant role for efficient market operation. Together with that, the integration of the Spanish economy into the community context and, specifically, into the Economic and monetary Union, conditions the margin of Government performance on the design of macroeconomic policy, fundamentally on monetary politics. In this context, micro-economic policies and competition defence policies above all have a special relevance."
The development in scope and intensity of innovative competition has a notable deflationary effect. It is the most important instrument, together with monetary policy, that to a great extent has been transferred to the European Central Bank, for advancing with strong and continuous growth without stress in prices.
With the monetary and worldwide competition authorities fully aware that inflation and monetary instability are the worst for the social and economic welfare and well-doing of people, a mattress of stability should be created as soon as possible where trade inside the common monetary areas obeys factors of real profitability and where security of property, not subject to unexpected fluctuations, makes voluntary exchanges of positive sum feasible and facilitates the economic agents to specialize in those tasks that they are better gifted at absolutely or comparatively.
The tuning of our Constitution with the most innovative principles in the competition defence policies is patent. And vice versa: the laws of competition defence have a direct relationship with the great beginnings of the Spanish Constitution and with fundamental duties and rights. The true economic development of Spain, of Europe and of Euro-America has a lot to do with the clear understanding of these fundamental human interactions. The responsibility is now ours.

Joseph John Franch Menéu
Director of the Tribunal of Competition Defence
Professor of Political Economy in the UAM
14th June 2001
Magazine Chronicle of the Economy Epoch II - number 11. 2nd term 2001