PROPOSAL FOR A REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL ESTABLISHING THE FRAMEWORK FOR SCREENING OF FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENTS IN THE EUROPEAN UNION

Dimitrijević Duško (Институт за међународну политику и привреду, Београд), dimitrijevicd@diplomacy.bg.ac.rs

In contemporary international economic relations, the European Union insists on open and fair international trade. However, with new trade trends, there is a serious fear of the European Union from the unfair and unsustainable trade practices of some countries that lead to the takeover of European companies in key industrial branches. In order to protect its own strategic interests, the competent authorities of the European Union adopted in September 2017 a draft Regulation establishing a framework for screening foreign direct investment from the third countries, with reference to security reasons and public order. In the draft Regulation, the Member States have been given some flexibility necessary to check foreign investment in changed circumstances and specific national frameworks. The draft Regulation provides for mechanisms of cooperation between States, in particular where foreign direct investment in one or more Member States can affect security and public order in the other Member States. In addition, the draft also provides for cases where the Commission can control investments that may affect projects or programs of vital interest for the European Union, and for reasons of security and public order.

Keywords: foreign direct investment, European Union, third countries, security, public order, screening, projects, programs