The Florence Competition Programme (FCP) was launched in 2009 under the auspices of the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, the inter-disciplinary department of the European University Institute in Florence, Italy.

The programme was established by Professor Pier Luigi Parcu, who saw an opportunity for international competition enforcers, academics and stakeholders to gather and share their knowledge and expertise on the most pressing issues of competition law and antitrust in today’s volatile markets.

Since its inception, many practitioners, academics and policy officials have frequented our debates, dialogues, seminars and conferences, thus bolstering the community and strengthening an international network of competition experts.

European Networking and Training for National Competition Enforcers

The programme builds upon ENTraNCE (European Networking and Training for National Competition Enforcers) for Judges, a long-term project which provides training for national judges of the EU member states dealing with competition cases. The project is co-funded by the DG COMP of the European Commission. Since its first edition in 2011, ENTraNCE has been attended by more than 250 judges from 24 EU Member States.

The FCP broadens the scope of activities of ENTraNCE by carrying out training, policy, advocacy and research activities whilst working with myriad stakeholders, including National Competition Authorities, international organisations, academia, industry experts, law firms and economic consultancies.

Annual Training on Competition and Regulation for the Digital Era

The flagship training activity of the FCP is the Annual Training, a multidisciplinary training providing participants with a to-the-minute overview of the main issues concerning the application of competition law and economics. The skills and experience of the FCP team include the ability to create custom training content pertinent to the learning needs of stakeholders: ad-hoc training courses, in collaboration with other partner entities, can be organised upon request of National Authorities or private companies.

Policy and Advocacy

The FCP is experienced in engaging different kind of stakeholders in debating cutting-edge issues in competition law and economics. The FCP does this by regularly organizing high-level policy events such as the Annual Conferences and the policy workshops.

To conclude, the FCP has outstanding expertise in comparative analysis of legal and regulatory frameworks, in the assessment of regulatory performances and in providing recommendations and advice in competition policy and legislation.