On 26th March, the European Commission issued guidelines to ensure an EU-wide
approach to foreign investment screening in a time when industrial
and corporate assets may be under stress.
The aim is to preserve EU companies and critical assets, notably
in areas such as health, medical research, biotechnology and
infrastructures that are essential for the bloc's security and
public order, without undermining the EU's general openness to
foreign investment. The guidelines is a vigilance call upon Member
States to use the FDI screening mechanisms in place to the fullest
extent or to set up fully fledged screening mechanisms to prevent a
sell-off of strategic EU assets to third countries in the current
COVID-19 crisis.
