Like other antitrust agencies we make our assessment of a merger or antitrust case based on its impact on our jurisdiction, and not on the nationality of the companies. This is exactly what the U.S. antitrust agencies, the Justice Department and the FTC, do.

I have the most profound respect for the Department of Justice and the FTC. We in Europe are a younger and I would say junior institution to the historical antitrust experience of the US.

I don't believe we're seeing the beginning of a divergence. We have seen a partial divergence on this case.

In the area of macroeconomic policies, I think we'll see more centralization, like in the budgetary sphere.

No matter which nationality the murderers are, justice has to be [done]. It is not fair for this family.

There's a lot of redundancy in these stores. If the idea of this merger is to make these department stores more similar to each other, that won't add value to consumers, ... Consumers want differentiation and variety in products. Price isn't their only consideration.