From September 30 to October 2, 2025, DICE hosted two high-level events of the Verein für Socialpolitik (VfS): the meeting of the Working Group on Competition and the Annual Conference of the Committee on Economic Policy.
Working Group on Competition
On September 30, 2025, the Working Group on Competition convened under the chairmanship of Prof. Dr. Justus Haucap. Under the overarching theme “Current Developments in Competition and Regulation”, the program featured contributions on key economic policy issues:
- Dr. Johannes Meya (Federal Network Agency) on the reorganization of the regulatory framework for electricity and gas networks,
- Dr. Frederic Ufer (VATM) on competition and regulation in the telecommunications market,
- Sandro Gleave (Federal Cartel Office) reporting on the current work of the authority,
- Stephan Manuel Nagel (TaylorWessing) on recent developments in competition law.
The meeting provided an intensive exchange between academia, regulatory practice, and competition authorities.
Committee on Economic Policy
On October 1–2, 2025, the Annual Conference of the Committee on Economic Policy followed, under the guiding theme “Germany under Growing Distributional Conflicts.” Discussions included, among others:
- Monetary policy in times of high excess liquidity (Prof. Dr. Ulrike Neyer),
- Reform needs in the German system for supporting structurally weak regions (Prof. Dr. Jan Schnellenbach),
- The mobility transition and taxation in road transport (Prof. Dr. Gernot Sieg),
- Austria’s economy facing structural challenges: economic performance, competitiveness, and demographics (Prof. Dr. Tobias Thomas),
- Structural challenges for the German economy (Prof. Dr. Christoph M. Schmidt),
- Competition policy in the program of the new European Commission (Prof. Dr. Oliver Budzinski),
- and legal innovations in the digital economy (Prof. Dr. Martina Eckardt).
Conclusion
With both events, DICE once again proved to be a forum for current debates in economic and competition policy, offering a valuable platform for exchange between academia, practice, and policymaking.
