MEPs adopted the report by Raphaël Glucksmann (S&D, French) on screening foreign direct investments (FDI) by a large majority (378 votes in favour, 173 against and 24 abstentions) on Thursday 8 May. The European Parliament as a whole endorsed the position of the Committee on International Trade (see EUROPE 13617/3), as none of the amendments tabled in plenary by the PfE, ECR or The Left groups were adopted.
In their report, the elected representatives call for a broader screening of FDI, to include more monitored sectors and also to add ‘greenfield investments’ when they exceed €250 million.
For their part, the Member States have not yet adopted their position, but the Polish Presidency of the EU Council aims to do so at the beginning of June.
The scope of FDI screening is likely to be a major issue in the negotiations, as member countries are moving in the opposite direction to the European Parliament and wish to reduce the scope of operations to be filtered.
Parliament does, however, have the support of the Commission, which considers it crucial to have a fairly broad screening system. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)