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October 2025 – The European Commission published its fifth annual report on the screening of foreign direct investment (FDI) into the EU accompanied by a Staff Working Document. The report covers developments during 2024 and provides an overview of FDI screening across the EU, the evolution of national screening mechanisms, and emerging investment trends highlighting both the EU's ongoing openness to foreign investors and its efforts to strengthen safeguards for security and public order.
While the EU-27 continued to attract significant investment FDI inflows slowed in 2023 and 2024 due to a decline in greenfield investments, even as mergers and acquisitions began to recover unevenly across Member States and sectors. By the end of 2024, 24 EU Member States had operational FDI screening mechanisms, with Croatia, Cyprus, and Greece advancing toward implementing their own regimes in 2025. Legislative updates across the region, including in Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Czech Republic, reflected growing alignment with EU and international standards. Notably, Romania issued its first conditional FDI clearances, while Croatia introduced a draft law to establish a national screening system. Meanwhile, negotiations continue at the EU level on a revised FDI Screening Regulation, which aims to make screening mandatory for all Member States and harmonise procedures across the Union.
The Commission's findings underscore that FDI screening has not created a more restrictive investment climate, as the vast majority of transactions were approved without conditions. Instead, Member States are exercising increased vigilance in assessing risks linked to foreign ownership of strategic assets and technologies. In Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), differences in national approaches remain, with countries like Romania and Austria leading in the number of filings, while others, such as the Czech Republic, apply narrower screening criteria.
Click here to download our detailed guide on the Commission's 5th Annual Report and what they mean for CEE.
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