Striking the Right Balance

This year’s panel offers a timely platform to explore how the global landscape of FDI control is evolving in response to increasingly complex geopolitical and economic challenges. Governments worldwide are expanding their screening mechanisms not only to safeguard national security but also to enhance resilience in sectors such as healthcare, critical infrastructure, biotechnology, and digital technologies—all while striving to maintain an open posture to attract foreign capital. Striking the right balance between economic openness and national security remains a central and ongoing policy challenge.

Recent national strategies reflect this dual ambition. France, the United Kingdom, and several other European countries are actively promoting foreign investment through targeted initiatives such as the recent “A.I Action Summit” in Paris, the “Choose France” annual forum for international investors, and other major investment conferences in Italy, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Simultaneously, these countries are tightening scrutiny over sensitive assets through updated screening regimes. At the European Union level, efforts to strengthen the Defence Technological and Industrial Base and to enhance sovereignty in strategic sectors such as pharmaceuticals and energy underscore the growing alignment between industrial policy and strategic investment protection.

In the United States, the CFIUS framework continues to evolve to address emerging risks, with a particular focus on maintaining a welcoming environment for high-value investments, while simultaneously reinforcing the country’s commitment to national security. Following recent policy shifts, the United States has signaled a stronger posture in foreign investment review. New regulatory updates have expanded CFIUS’s powers, enhancing compliance monitoring, increasing penalties for violations, and broadening jurisdiction over sensitive sectors such as critical technologies, critical infrastructure, and real estate transactions near military installations. These reforms reflect the Administration’s renewed emphasis on protecting strategic assets and asserting economic sovereignty, while preserving selective openness to foreign investment that aligns with U.S. national interests.

As countries recalibrate their FDI frameworks, understanding the nuances of different screening regimes is essential for developing informed, future-ready investment strategies. Against this backdrop, the panel will discuss how shifting regulatory dynamics are reshaping investment flows and national priorities worldwide.

• Key Question:
  What are the trends of FDI control in France, Spain, Luxembourg, European Union and the USA? How do you interpret these trends and their likely causes in terms of balancing economic security and attracting foreign investment?

Reform: Development and Implementation

The effective implementation of FDI reforms has become a key focus for policymakers, as jurisdictions around the world adopt a broader and more integrated approach to national security. Several recent reforms illustrate the evolution of this landscape.

In the United States, the "America First National Security Executive Order", issued in February 2025, has notably expanded the scope of FDI review, placing particular emphasis on foreign investments linked to critical technologies, infrastructure, and supply chain resilience. Simultaneously, discussions around outbound investment screening have intensified, with proposals to establish new frameworks to monitor, and where necessary, restrict certain overseas investments that could pose risks to national security.

Meanwhile, in Europe, the European Union is reinforcing investment screening within the framework of its broader economic security strategy. The European Commission has launched an outbound investment risk assessment focusing on strategic technologies such as advanced semiconductors, artificial intelligence, and quantum computing. Member States are expected to submit progress reports by July 2025 and final reports by June 2026. In parallel, the Commission has proposed revisions to the EU FDI Screening Regulation as part of its Economic Security Package, aiming to make national screening mechanisms mandatory, to expand coverage to indirect investments, to harmonise the definition of critical sectors, and to enhance cooperation between Member States—reflecting a wider shift towards safeguarding sensitive industries and strengthening Europe’s strategic autonomy.

On both sides of the Atlantic, regulators are increasingly required to integrate FDI screening mechanisms—both inbound and outbound—within broader regulatory frameworks, including merger control, foreign subsidies regulation, and emerging compliance obligations.

• Key Question:
  What key reforms are currently in the pipeline regarding FDI control regulations (e.g., the EU FDI Screening Regulation under the Economic Security Package, the 2025 French guidelines, reforms in Spain, Luxembourg, Germany, and the U.S. "America First National Security Executive Order")? How do you reconcile merger controls, foreign subsidy regulations, compliance regimes, and FDI controls (both inbound and outbound)?