Brussels, 10/02/2011 (Agence Europe) - EU Industry Commissioner and Vice-President of the European Commission Antonio Tajani and EU Internal Market Commissioner Michel Barnier are calling on the European Commission to launch a debate on whether foreign direct investment (fdi) in the EU from outside Europe needs to be investigated. The request was formalised in a letter sent by the two commissioners on Thursday 10 February to President of the Commission José Manuel Durão Barroso.
On the fringes of a press conference in Brussels on Thursday 10 February, Tajani said the two had decided to raise the issue because it is seen as very important by EU entrepreneurs. Tajani said that he himself was absolutely in favour of investment from outside the EU, but wanted to make sure that this was not a cover for attempts to close down EU companies after asset-stripping them of all their know-how.
Tajani has already set out similar ideas in European newspapers. In this letter, the commissioners suggest introducing a system in the EU akin to the system in the US whereby a special body investigates whether fdi would impact on national security or would infringe US legislation on the grounds that the rules must be the same, whether at home or aboard.
EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht refused to comment on Antonio Tajani and Michel Barnier's letter, leaving it for Barroso to respond. On Wednesday 9 February, a spokesperson for De Gucht, John Clancy, welcomed “the contribution to the debate” of five countries calling for Europe to be “less naïve” in international trade and better able to ensure “more effective and strategic defence of its interests”. (Gp/transl.fl)