Justice & Law Quote by Mario Monti

Monti’s compliment is doing diplomatic heavy lifting. On the surface, it’s a bow to Washington: the Department of Justice and the FTC are cast as the seasoned custodians of competition, with Europe framed as the eager apprentice. But the real intent is strategic deference. By praising the US “historical antitrust experience,” Monti reduces the temperature around a growing transatlantic rivalry over who gets to police global markets - especially American companies operating in Europe.

The phrasing “younger” and “junior institution” is carefully chosen. “Younger” sounds like a neutral fact of institutional chronology; “junior” is a bit more submissive, almost self-deprecating. That self-deprecation is the point: it reassures American counterparts that Europe’s rising regulatory confidence isn’t an insult, even as Europe is actively building a muscular competition regime. In other words, he’s signaling: we’re not here to grandstand; we’re here to learn - and to be taken seriously.

Context matters. European competition policy, particularly through the European Commission, became a central tool of market integration and state-building in the late 20th century. By the time Monti was speaking as a leading EU competition figure, Brussels was increasingly willing to challenge corporate power in ways the US, with its more consumer-welfare-oriented turn in antitrust, was often reluctant to do. The subtext: Europe acknowledges American seniority, while quietly asserting its legitimacy to act - and, when necessary, to lead.