European Union Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes has announced plans on day to set up a special unit to investigate price-fixing.
She said the purpose was to give anti-cartel enforcement "an even higher priority" in the EU executive. Ms Kroes's spokesman later said the new directorate should be created by the summer.
Less than a year ago, the Commission's competition department completed a new structure, which brought together its merger and anti-cartel units.
Ms Kroes also said the Commission was willing to allow companies to merge no matter how big so long as the resulting company still faces significant competition. "Our rules are very clear: in merger control size does not matter," she said.
But she added she would have trouble permitting mergers if economic analysis showed "that the merged entity will trample its competitors, ignore its customers".
Ms Kroes told a collection of judges, competition officials and competition lawyers that they needed to do more to change the general perception of anti-trust laws so that consumers understand the benefits.
"When we prohibit mergers it is not out of some blind opposition to large companies," she said.
Instead, she said that her agency aims to promote increased innovation, lower prices and a stronger economy. "Competition is the central driver for competitiveness and growth," she said.
