CELIS-Blog

By Pantelis Christofides and Dr. Thomas Papadopoulos   Background Details Further to the unanimous voting in favour of the FDI Screening Bill by the Plenary of the House of Representatives, the Legislative Body of the Republic of Cyprus, in the Session on the 30th of October 2025[1], the Establishment of Framework for the Foreign Direct…

By James Marshall, Laurie-Anne Grelier and Romain Girard    The war in Ukraine, and other recent geopolitical conflicts, have underscored the need for EU-based defence capabilities to scale up to face these challenges.  Several EU initiatives which have sought to stimulate investment are starting to bear fruit, as the European Defence Agency recently reported record…

By Igor Klotsman   1. INTRODUCTION Foreign direct investment (FDI) plays a significant role in shaping the economic and strategic landscape of host countries, generating both growth opportunities and potential vulnerabilities. On one hand, it provides capital, facilitates technology transfer, enhances productivity, and integrates domestic markets into global value chains. On the other hand, certain…

Part 3 in the CELIS blogseries on the revision of FDI Screening Regulation 2019/452. Authors:  Andrew Hill (AmCham EU, Brussels), Floor Doppen (University of Antwerp), Kaarli Eichhorn (Antitrust Partner, Jones Day) Introduction While most observers are eying the politically sensitive discussion of which sectors will be covered by the new Foreign Investment Screening Regulation (‘the…

Part 2 in the CELIS blogseries on the revision of FDI Screening Regulation 2019/452. Authors:  Andrew Hill (AmCham EU, Brussels), Floor Doppen (University of Antwerp), Leonard von Rummel (Partner, Blomstein) Introduction When the European Commission published its proposal for a revision of the FDI Screening Regulation (‘the Regulation’), observers quickly identified the delineation of the…

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…

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…

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…

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.…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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)…

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…