In the EU, merger control competences are ascribed to the european level and to each member state. This results in a multitude of competition institutions and regimes. The existence of vertically (european versus national jurisdiction(s)) and horizontally (on the same (member state) level) interrelated merger control competences leads to jurisdictional conflicts. The present work examines the question of how competition conflicts arise and develops an alternative model that is superior to the existing competence allocation in the EU.