Cani Fernández: The priority is to strengthen mechanisms to guarantee effective competition in markets that benefits consumers

After your ground-breaking career both as a lawyer and as a référendaire at the Court of Justice, you are once again a pioneer: you are not only the first woman to be appointed as president of the CNMC but it is also the first time this position is held by a competition law practitioner. There has been—in my opinion—near-sighted criticism to this respect, but I would like to draw attention to the extremely positive side of having such an experienced practitioner at the helm of the competition authority. How would you say your background as a competition lawyer is helping you in your current role? What does your experience as a practitioner bring to the role? I believe these 30 plus years of EU and competition law practice have allowed me to get a deep understanding of competition in