June 16, 2026, 14:58 GMT | Insight
Active competition enforcers are crucial to ensuring the benefits of the clean energy transition flow to the right parts of society and the economy, according to the new head of the
European Commission’s energy department. Celine Gauer said that green technologies didn’t automatically mean companies were “angels” and the rigorous use of antitrust and subsidy powers was crucial for affordable energy.
Active competition enforcers are crucial to ensuring that the benefits of the clean energy transition flow to the right parts of society and the economy, according to the new head of the European Commission’s energy department.
Celine Gauer said that green technologies didn’t automatically mean companies were “angels” and the rigorous use of antitrust and subsidy powers was crucial for affordable energy.
In April, Gauer was appointed head of DG Energy, the regulator’s department entrusted with regulating the sector and managing a transition towards more use of renewable sources and cleaner technologies.
Earlier in her career, she was an antitrust enforcer in the commission’s competition directorate and was involved in a high-profile investigation of Russia’s
Gazprom over gas pricing.
“The combination of strong competition enforcement and…very robust state aid control is the best contribution we can make to keep clean energy as affordable as possible and to get the transition done,” Gauer told a conference* in Brussels.
“We haven’t seen a lot [of antitrust activity] in the energy field lately, but there is a lot of need for it to remain there,” the director general said. “It is not that you are selling clean technologies that you are an angel,” Gauer said, noting the “temptation of bid rigging.”
She noted that billions of euros in public spending were pouring into the sector to support the transition, and that the watchdog’s subsidy control powers were crucial to ensuring the funds reached the most exposed companies and sectors.
“Competition rules are also the best instrument we have to avoid bad or stupid decisions to tackle the crisis,” she said.
*European Competition Forum Midsummer Meeting, Brussels, June 16-18, 2026.
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Antitrust, State Aid, Energy
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Energy & Utilities, Environmental Industry
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Europe, European Union Member States