Call for Papers

XLIV Competition Law Scholars Forum Workshop

College de France, Paris

Friday, 26 September 2025

Competition Law Scholars Forum (CLASF) is pleased to announce its XLV Workshop, focusing on the evolving relationship between industrial policy and competition law. This is particularly timely given the renewed interest in strategic autonomy, the global rise in mercantilist economic policies, and the recent influence of theDraghi Report on the future of European competitiveness. The increasing prominence of state-led industrial policy, subsidy races, and geopolitical concerns has brought fresh challenges for traditional competition law frameworks. These developments raise fundamental questions:
Can competition law remain neutral in a world of politicised markets?
How should authorities respond to the competitive distortions caused by third-country subsidies?
What role can or should EU State aid rules play in this landscape?
And how might national and supranational competition regimes evolve in response?

We welcome papers that explore these themes from doctrinal, economic, comparative, or policy-oriented perspectives.

Topics of particular interest include (but are not limited to):
The implications of the Draghi Report and related EU initiatives (e.g. Green Deal Industrial Plan, Net-Zero Industry Act) for competition law enforcement;
The compatibility (or tension) between national industrial policy goals and EU competition law;
Competition law enforcement in the face of strategic autonomy, trade defence, or foreign subsidies instruments;
Comparative approaches to balancing industrial policy and competition law (e.g. U.S., China, Global South);
Theoretical re-evaluations of competition law’s objectives in the post-globalisation era.

We welcome contributions from early-career and established researchers alike, as well as from practitioners and policymakers. The Workshop is in-person only and will be held at the Collège de France in Paris, under the direction of Prof Aurelien Portuese (The George Washington University; College de France). Please submit abstracts of 500–1,000 words by 5 July 2025 to Prof Barry Rodger <barry.j.rodger@strath.ac.uk>; and Prof Aurelien Portuese <aurelien.portuese@gwu.edu>. Decisions will be communicated by 19 July 2025. A draft of the presentation or paper should be submitted one week before the event. Selected papers may be considered for publication in the Competition Law Review, a fully refereed scholarly law journal.