In a move that is either a logical progression or an exquisitely executed game of regulatory musical chairs, the European Commission has appointed an economist named Tommaso Valletti as its new chief competition economist, an influential role nestled comfortably at the intersection of high-level policy advice and extremely long legal documents.
If the name rings a vague bell among aficionados of antitrust drama, it might be because Valletti held the same post from 2016 to 2019, during which he cheerfully ruffled quite a few corporate feathers while advising EU competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager on headline-grabbing cases against Silicon Valley’s finest. Having spent the past few years at Imperial College London (presumably surrounded by chalkboards and moral certainty), he is now returning to Brussels for another round of jousting with Big Tech.
His return comes at a time when the European Commission is enthusiastically sharpening both its pencils and legal tools to enforce the Digital Markets Act, a new law that attempts to herd tech giants into behaving like polite continental conglomerates instead of unruly global behemoths. The DMA officially began applying in March and has already triggered a flurry of investigations, mild indignation and carefully worded press releases.
Not one to arrive quietly, Valletti seems poised to add intellectual rigor and possibly some dramatic PowerPoint slides to the Commission’s growing list of tech probes. His appointment, announced Monday, comes as Brussels increases scrutiny of companies such as Apple, Amazon, Meta and Google, none of whom have especially fond memories of his previous tenure. One suspects they had just begun to relax.
Valletti’s predecessor, Pierre Régibeau, who held the job from 2019 until this year, will now watch from the sidelines or perhaps a think tank while the new-old guard returns with a sharper gaze and possibly a thicker binder.
The question now is whether the tech Goliaths will find a new strategy or if Valletti will simply pick up where he left off — presumably somewhere around page 374 of the most recent antitrust complaint.
Turns out in Brussels, second acts are not just possible, they come with subpoenas.