Speaker details

Biography

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. Inge and her team ensure that the EU's competition rules are fit for purpose and that DG Competition's enforcement actions, across sectors and across all 5 instruments (including also the Digital Markets Act and the Foreign Subsidies Regulation), are consistent and aligned with the EU's and DG Competition's objectives. Furthermore, Inge supervises DG Competition's international department and its work within the European Competition Network. 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. 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.