Overview
- The five-member Monopolkommission formally delivered its 461–462 page Hauptgutachten to Economics Minister Katherina Reiche on Thursday, July 9, 2026, and used the report to press for a new competition-first strategy.
- The report documents a long-term fall in the domestic share of value added for Germany's 100 largest firms from 57% in 2008 to 40% in 2024 and links that loss of domestic anchoring to policy choices that raise costs and shield incumbents.
- The commission argues that many state interventions have been costly and ineffective and recommends far fewer, tightly targeted and time-limited subsidies rather than open-ended sector or firm support.
- On energy policy the commission rejects Germany's patchwork of sector-specific electricity aids as bureaucratic and distortive and urges broad relief measures such as lowering state levies on power to cut costs economy-wide.
- The report calls for stronger enforcement of competition law including full use of EU tools like the Digital Markets Act, plus stepped-up funding for basic research, deregulation to speed innovation, and clearer rules to guard against unfair foreign competition.