The normative argument of this paper is that competition should constitute a fundamental value of liberal democracy. The antitrust law thereby should primarily address the deontological issues of protection and promotion of the competitive process. The utilitarian values of competition, such as consumer or total welfare, as well as other economic or political interests which competition ancillary promotes should not be considered as the only legitimate reason for the existence of antitrust law. The assumption that competition is only useful as a means to generate welfare is critically contested in this paper. If liberal democracies appreciate welfare more than competition then the latter could be subject of compromise any time when there are more efficient ways to generate welfare. This would undermine the very concept of freedom which constitutes the main component of the competitive process. The normative justification of this statement is provided by analysing similarities between political, cultural and economic aspects of competition and by demonstrating their constitutional significance for liberal humanistic societies. This bold premise, however, faces many practical difficulties which are addressed in this paper with the view of providing an operational algorithm for correlation between the ethical dimensions of competition and its functional, welfare-centred aspects.

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An unprecedented recalibration of the rules regulating the functioning of competition in the digital markets has catalysed diverse reactions among the main stakeholders. The proposed approach to regulating gatekeepers will have a paradigmatic impact on European consumers, businesses and public institutions. It will have equally significant implications for the theoretical foundations of competition law, economics and policy. While formally the Digital Markets Act (DMA) is complementing, not substituting, existing provisions of competition de lege lata, such a substantial extension of the rationale and instruments of competition policy is likely to have significant implications also for the application of ex-post rules. The entire apparatus of competition law will be extended by the new modality. Out of the wide spectrum of changes introduced by the DMA/DSA proposal, this article identifies and analyses one of the central – though not so commonly discussed – elements of the transformation. It asks a normative question about what kind of competition in the digital markets the European Union should seek to establish, and a methodological question about procedural and substantive legal mechanisms used for shaping such a new format. digital competition law, polycentric and dialectical approach to antitrust, competition law and the digital economy, goals of competition law, ex-ante and ex-post competition policy, Digital Markets Act – DMA, inter-platform competition, ecosystem competition, Digital Services Act – DSA.