The competition principle is still strong and alive in EU Law

Many commentators asked, since the Lisbon Treaty, if there is a ”competition fatigue” in the European Union and why this principle looked to have been downgraded to a protocol which is an annex to the Treaty on the European Union. This question seems to have received an answer from the ECJ, one of the main promoters of undistorted competition within EU over the years.

In the end, the ”downgrading” looks as being rather en expression of political compromise which is the basis for the evolution of the EU law and institutions (for the good and the bad it brings).

http://kluwercompetitionlawblog.com/2011/11/25/%E2%80%9Cthanks-nicolas-sarkozy-but-no-thanks-%E2%80%9D-cjeu-rules-on-status-of-protocol-on-internal-market-and-competition/