We empirically investigate the nature and outcomes of the liberalization process in European telecommunications. First, we show that decisions to liberalize a country´s telecommunications sector have followed a path dependent and cumulative pace. Moreover, we investigate the extent to which path-dependency might have forced liberalizations, regardless of the creation of complementary institutions governing promarket outcomes. We find that the impact of liberalizations on competition is strongly enhanced by the establishment of complementary institutions, such as the national regulatory authority. Our findings contribute to the existing literature by outlining the role played by path dependency and institutional complementarities in the process of European liberalization. Our conclusions may provide useful lessons for the optimal policy design of pro-market policies in those European network industries that still wait for substantial liberalization.

The Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies (RSCAS), created in 1992 and directed by Professor Brigid Laffan, aims to develop inter-disciplinary and comparative research on the major issues facing the process of European integration, European societies and Europe's place in 21 st century global politics. The Centre is home to a large post-doctoral programme and hosts major research programmes, projects and data sets, in addition to a range of working groups and ad hoc initiatives. The research agenda is organised around a set of core themes and is continuously evolving, reflecting the changing agenda of European integration, the expanding membership of the European Union, developments in Europe's neighbourhood and the wider world.

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The proliferation of news and information has reached unprecedented levels. Notwithstanding this apparent richness, increasing doubts about the quality and diversity of online news have grown for many years. The article arguments that the threats to quality information and media pluralism essentially come from two sources: the increasing concentration of economic resources into just a few gigantic online platforms/media and the spreading of the disinformation that is favored by the available technological instruments. After having analyzed these threats also in terms of their consequences for the public and democratic debate, the article focuses on the available responses, exploring the necessity of explicit and multidimensional public policies to preserve quality news and media pluralism as public goods that are indispensable to democracy.

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The Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, created in 1992 and currently directed by Professor Brigid Laffan, aims to develop inter-disciplinary and comparative research on the major issues facing the process of European integration, European societies and Europe's place in 21 st century global politics. The Centre is home to a large post-doctoral programme and hosts major research programmes, projects and data sets, in addition to a range of working groups and ad hoc initiatives. The research agenda is organised around a set of core themes and is continuously evolving, reflecting the changing agenda of European integration, the expanding membership of the European Union, developments in Europe's neighbourhood and the wider world.

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