CELIS-Blog
The Republic of Cyprus’ 2025 FDIS Bill is out and … it is robust!
By Pantelis Christofides and Dr. Thomas Papadopoulos, CELIS Fellows and Country Reporters for the Republic of Cyprus The Republic of Cyprus’ Ministry of Finance has submitted on 10th July 2025 before the Plenary of the House of Representatives[1] the long awaited new FDIS Bill[2], with the title of ‘the Establishment of Framework for the Foreign…
Read More ...Assembly of Albania Introduces the Concept of Investment Screening in Amendment to Foreign Investment Law
By Elvis Zerva On July 3, 2025, the Assembly of Albania adopted an amendment to Law No. 7764, dated November 2, 1993, “On Foreign Investments”, introducing, for the first time, a mandatory screening regime for foreign direct investments (FDIs). The amendment (Law 56/2025) is now published in the Official Gazzette no. 124 date 11.07.2025. The amendment…
Read More ...Towards The End Of Russian Oil And Gas In Europe?
By Edouard Gergondet Introduction Since Russia’s oil and gas industry is estimated to represent up to 50% of its total federal budget revenues and around 20% of its GDP, it is not surprising that, in an effort to curtail these revenues, the European Union (“EU”) introduced numerous measures to target this sector, as part of…
Read More ...CELIS Update on Investment Screening and Economic Security – June 2025
by Helene Schramm with the help of intern Parth Aggarwal INVESTMENT SCREENING MECHANISMS European Union – Commencement of trilogue discussions on the revision of the EU FDI screening regulation In January 2025, the European Commission unveiled a proposal to overhaul the EU’s Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) screening regulation (Regulation 2019/452), aiming to strengthen…
Read More ...Regulating the Final Frontier: Why the EU Space Act Matters
Regulating the Final Frontier: Why the EU Space Act Matters By Thao Pham & Francesco Casaril Introduction After years of political inertia and many wake-up calls, the EU Space Act was finally unveiled on 25 June 2025 (‘the Act’). For those of us who have been closely following the space industry, this is a long-awaited moment.…
Read More ...Blocked Deals and State Buy-ins: Legal Consequences and Policy Challenges in Hungary’s FDI Screening Regime
By Bálint Kovács* On 23 June 2025, Hungary introduced two substantial changes to its foreign direct investment (FDI) screening legislation.[1] These amendments entered into force the next day following their publication, with direct implications for both future filings and pending screening procedures. The primary objectives of the reform are twofold: first, to extend the deadline…
Read More ...Introducing: The CELIS Non-Papers on Economic Security
Authors: Liam McGrath and Simon Shargi-Erdmosa (CELIS Institute). We are excited to announce the CELIS Non-Papers on Economic Security, an occasional paper series from the CELIS Institute offering expert analysis and insights at the intersection of economic security, open markets, and competitiveness. The series is intended to cut through the noise of periodic commentary and…
Read More ...Republic of Cyprus’ New FDIS Bill unveiled: further details
By Pantelis Christofides and Dr. Thomas Papadopoulos, CELIS Fellows and Country Reporters for the Republic of Cyprus Following yesterday’s blogpost, and as reported by Politis newspaper today, the new FDIS Bill approved by the Republic of Cyprus’ Council of Ministers on 2nd July 2025, will include, amongst others, the following provisions: a minimum mandatory FDIS…
Read More ...A New Cyprus Foreign Direct Investment Screening Legislative Bill Incoming
By Pantelis Christofides and Dr. Thomas Papadopoulos, CELIS Fellows and Country Reporters for the Republic of Cyprus His Excellency the President of the Republic of Cyprus, Mr. Nikos Christodoulides, during his opening address at the Council of Ministers’ Session held on 2 July 2025,[1] made several comments, some of which concerned the new legislative bill…
Read More ...Introducing: The Foreign (Direct) Investment Screening Regulation – A blog series on the revision of FDI Screening Regulation 2019/452
Authors: Lena Hornkohl (University of Vienna)[1], Andrew Hill (AmCham EU, Brussels), Floor Doppen (University of Antwerp). After years of preparations and negotiations, the European Commission, Council, and Parliament convened on Tuesday, 17 June 2026, in Strasbourg to hold the inaugural trilateral talks on the revision of the EU’s Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) screening framework (Regulation…
Read More ...CELIS Update on Investment Screening and Economic Security – May 2025
by Helene Schramm INVESTMENT SCREENING MECHANISMS European Union – European Parliament approves proposal for a wide framework for screening of foreign direct investments On 8 May 2025, the European Parliament adopted the proposal of a major reform of the Foreign Investment Screening Regulation, aimed at protecting strategic EU sectors from foreign threats. The…
Read More ...Clarifying The Cooperation Mechanism? Exploring DG Trade’s FDI Screening FAQ
By John Kay and Floor Doppen Over the past six years, the EU cooperation mechanism on foreign direct investment (FDI) screening has progressively advanced under the EU FDI Screening Regulation (Regulation 2019/452, henceforth the ‘Regulation’). Institutionalization of the cooperation process (through e.g. the expert group), setting up coordination cells in all EU Member States (MS)…
Read More ...Collateral Damage: What about the Casualties of the Geoeconomic Turn?
Bálint Kovács* At the beginning of this year, the government of the United States completed its outbound screening regime, adopting the final rule to implement Executive Order 14105 of 9 August 2023 (the Outbound Order).[1] The Outbound Order focuses on three key technology areas: semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum information technologies, and artificial intelligence. In an…
Read More ...CELIS Update on Investment Screening and Economic Security – April 2025
by Helene Schramm INVESTMENT SCREENING MECHANISMS European Union – European Commission publishes first in-depth decision on the Foreign Subsidies Regulation in e&/PPF On 4 April 2025, the European Commission issued its first conditional Phase II decision under Regulation (EU) 2022/2560 – the Foreign Subsidies Regulation (“FSR”) – in the acquisition of PPF Telecom by Emirates…
Read More ...CELIS German Chapter Round Table in Berlin – 27th May 2025
CELIS German Chapter, BLOMSTEIN and Dentons jointly organize an economic policy Round Table on 27th May (17:00-19:00) in Berlin to discuss the impact of trade policy measures on investment decisions. In particular, the debate will focus on how new and complex trade policy measures on both sides of the Atlantic and their embedding in questions…
Read More ...“MAL-TAming” – Malta aimed and Luxembourg tamed the Maltese investor citizenship scheme. Is there anything to learn from an FDI perspective?
Johannes Barbist (Binder Grösswang, Partner) Malta and certain other EU member states (e.g., Cyprus, Bulgaria, partly even Austria) have been operating schemes with preferential access to citizenship or residence for quite some time and partly still do. The standard strenuous path to citizenship or right of residence in these EU member states could be…
Read More ...The EU Anti-Coercion Regulation: A New Tool Against Economic Pressure
Georgia Tzifa & Mariia Shulha (Wilmer Hale)* As global economic pressures mount, the EU has armed itself with a powerful new tool to counter economic coercion. The EU Anti-Coercion Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2023/2675) has been fully in force for about a year (officially entering into force on December 27, 2023) and is poised to shape…
Read More ...CELIS Update on Investment Screening and Economic Security – March 2025
by Helene Schramm with the help of intern Surbhi Gupta INVESTMENT SCREENING MECHANISMS European Union – EU consults on Foreign Subsidies Regulation Guidelines On 5 March 2025, the European Commission published a Call for Evidence seeking feedback on the upcoming Guidelines regarding the implementation of the Foreign Subsidies Regulation (“FSR”). The FSR, effective…
Read More ...Transatlantic Economic Security at a Crossroads: CELIS DC Leaders Meeting 2025
Learnings from the first FSR Phase II merger decision: The Commission publishes a provisional public version of the commitment decision in e&/PPF (part 2)
Lena Hornkohl, University of Vienna, & Pierfrancesco Mattiolo, University of Antwerp On 24 September 2024, the European Commission (EC) issued the long-awaited first decision (under phase II of the concentration tool) of the new Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR). It took another long wait of seven months, but a provisional public version of the commitment decision…
Read More ...Learnings from the first FSR Phase II merger decision: The Commission publishes a provisional public version of the commitment decision in e&/PPF (part 1)
Lena Hornkohl, University of Vienna, & Pierfrancesco Mattiolo, University of Antwerp On 24 September 2024, the European Commission (EC) issued the long-awaited first decision (under phase II of the concentration tool) of the new Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR). It took another long wait of seven months, but a provisional public version of the commitment decision…
Read More ...CELIS German Chapter Round Table in Berlin – 27th May 2025
CELIS German Chapter, BLOMSTEIN and Dentons jointly organize an economic policy Round Table on 27th May (17:00-19:00) in Berlin to discuss the impact of trade policy measures on investment decisions. In particular, the debate will focus on how new and complex trade policy measures on both sides of the Atlantic and their embedding in questions…
Read More ...Behind the Scenes of the First Czech FDI Screening Prohibition
Jan Kupčík The Scenes The Czech FDI screening regime has been in effect since May 2021. Until recently, it had been flying pretty much under the radar due to a number of factors, in particular because of its quite narrow scope in terms of mandatory filings. We had dozens of cases, the majority of…
Read More ...Conference Report: BDI/CELIS German Chapter – Investment Screening Conference
Kilian Wagner From 27th to 28th March, the BDI and CELIS German Chapter organized the second joint conference on investment screening in Berlin. The conference took place against the backdrop of a rapidly changing geopolitical environment since the beginning of Donald Trump’s second presidency. Only a few days earlier, the US administration had unexpectedly announced…
Read More ...Geopolitical Challenges Beyond the European Union: The Evolution of FDI Screening Mechanisms and the Quest for European Security
Federica Marconi* In recent years, the European Union (EU) has been confronted with a series of unprecedented global crises, including the Covid-19 pandemic and the Ukraine war. These events have had a profound impact on the geopolitical and geo-economic landscapes. Concurrently, the rapid advancement of technology has increased global interconnectedness, thereby blurring the lines between…
Read More ...