International

It hasn't attracted much attention, but we find ourselves in the midst of a new wave of takeovers. The buying frenzy has broken out once again. What this means is corporations becoming even bigger, as well as more space for profitmaking on the basis of speculation. Managers and shareholders will be able once more to make pots of money by dealing in companies, rather than having any real involvement in them. And the European Commission merely sits back and watches.

Do you like a bit of chocolate now and again? I must confess that I do – even a bit too much, perhaps. My favourite is Belgian chocolate, Côte d’Or. Or the Swiss bars with three corners and some kind of nuts inside, Toblerone. Just one small detail: these companies aren't in fact any longer Belgian or Swiss. They're both subsidiaries of the American foodstuffs concern Kraft, a corporation which has many, many other brand-names in its assortment. But that's enough advertising for one day.

Now we see in the news this week that Kraft wants to take over the British chocolate and sweet manufacturer Cadbury. In my view Cadbury's chocolate isn't as good to eat as Cote d'Or, but that's neither here nor there. A takeover such as this will mean to a large extent that brands of chocolate popular in Europe will be in the hands of a single corporation. The current Commissioner for competition policy Neelie Kroes declared this week that the European Commission had no problems with this takeover, as it would have no disadvantageous consequences for the consumer or for competition.

During Kroes's notorious hearing last Thursday, a British Conservative MEP, of all people, asked whether there weren't too few Internet providers. Market share often exceeds 45%. Here too, Kroes does not appear to be impressed. If the few providers don't abuse their position, everything's fine. Even for my Tory colleague this was going too far. He found her answer completely inadequate, knowing that in the UK there's hardly any real competition between Internet providers at all. Obviously this has escaped the Commission's notice.

As a result of the crisis many firms are currently vulnerable, "going cheap", and so we are seeing a wave of takeovers. This is a dangerous development. In the case of General Motors we saw what the consequences can be if things go awry at a corporation of such size: either there are mass redundancies, or the state must step in, at great cost to the taxpayer. The risks involved in lumping firms together in this way are enormous. Contact between management and the workforce is, moreover, pretty well finished. Management becomes for the most part a question of the buying and selling of subsidiaries. In my view Kroes's successor as competition Commissioner should take a fresh look at the "too big to fail" concept, treating as a matter of urgency the question of how this lumping together through take-over after take-over can be stopped. Better a smaller firm, one you can put a face to and in which management is involved with the workers, than an enormous, faceless giant.

Having taken a closer look I might well stop buying Belgian or Swiss chocolate and look instead for fair trade products such as, in the Netherlands, 'Tony Chocolonely'. And in any case, chocolate made without slavery tastes much better, of course.