FDI: – A Tool To Protect Local Treasures?

In 2017, the European Commission (EC) under Jean-Claude Juncker unveiled a proposal for an EU-wide framework for foreign direct investment (FDI) screening. Confronted with new geodynamics and pressured by the the EC began to develop instruments that protect the EU's strategic autonomy and interests, focusing particularly on foreign state-backed acquisitions of critical European infrastructure and technology. These efforts resulted in the FDI Screening Regulation in October 2020¹ While this regulation does not mandate Member States to enact screening regimes, on the back of the legislative initiative the EC openly encouraged Member States to ramp-up their screening instruments.²

An overwhelming majority of Member States have since followed the EC's wake-up call.³ Today, 25 of 27 Member States have FDI regimes in place or are in the process of enacting screening instruments. As FDI regimes are implemented across the EU, investors are being confronted with a new