Economic analysis has been a bedrock of merger control for years and has undoubtedly improved the predictive powers of agencies conducting merger review, the following questions will be discussed: • Are we now seeing gaps? • Is it credible to argue that common ownership by large investors of minority holdings in rival companies will affect management decisions? • Should the acquisition by large digital businesses of tech startups be banned because they block innovation? Our panel will discuss these topics and tackle the question of whether the European Union merger rules hamper the emergence of European champions fit to compete at the highest level on the global stage in the wake of the European Commission’s veto of the proposed merger of the rail businesses of Siemens and Alstom.