Inge Bernaerts

Director of Policy & Strategy, DG Comp at European Commission

Speaker

Inge Bernaerts is Director for Strategy and Policy in the Competition Directorate General of the European Commission. She is responsible for conceptualising and developing policy initiatives in antitrust, mergers and state aids. In line with DG Competition’s objectives and under EVP’s Vestager’s steer, Inge and her team are engaged in an unprecedented exercise to update existing competition policy instruments, including the rulebooks on vertical and horizontal agreements, the notice on market definition and a simplification of merger control procedures. Inge also led the work of DG Competition on the design and inter-institutional negotiations of the Digital Markets Act and the Foreign Subsidies Regulation.

Previously, Inge held management positions in the Energy Directorate General of the Commission and was Head of Cabinet to Marianne Thyssen, Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility in the Juncker Commission. Between 2003 and 2010, Inge held different positions in the Directorate General for Competition. Before joining the Commission in 2003, she practiced competition law at the Brussels bar and she lectured European law seminars at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. Inge holds a law degree from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (summa cum laude) and a post-graduate degree in European law from the Universität Saarbrucken (magna cum laude). She is married and has two sons.