Debunking the myth of ordoliberal influence on European integration: The example of EU competition regulation

Abstract

References to ordoliberal influence in the context of German and European Community/Union economic regulations, and competition rules in particular, are frequently made by scholars and politians alike. Moreover, ordoliberalism is often conflated with the German postwar social market economy, and hence portrayed as distinctively different from neoliberalism. This chapter argues that the role of ordliberals and ordoliberal thinking tends to be exaggerated: ordoliberalism should not be mistaken with the notion of social market economy, nor seen as dissimilar from neoliberalism. Moreover, the chapter demonstrates that the role of ordoliberals in the formulation and subsequent enforcement of competitition rules both in Germany and at European Community level has been marginal at best.