European Commission’s Plan to Regulate Investments in Critical Technologies and Defend Strategic Infrastructure

2023-06-20 15:37:29

The European Commission presented its plan on Tuesday to better regulate investments on the continent and abroad in critical technologies.

A new European initiative to defend strategic infrastructure, industries, intellectual property and reduce EU dependencies. This is the ambition of the plan presented on Tuesday by the European Commission.

“We are interested in a limited number of advanced technologies and we want to ensure that they do not strengthen the military capabilities of certain countries“, explains the President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.

Without ever naming China as the main target of this initiative, this project details how the authorities might intervene to better supervise investments EU companies.

The institution proposes to strengthen the control of incoming strategic investments on the continent, those outside the Union, as well as the export of advanced technologies.

The risk is in fact to see European companies implementing danger the Union’s know-how and security through a excessive transfer of innovative techniques. With this European economic security strategy, it would be possible to sound the alarm if investments are considered too risky.

“I don’t think that’s very protectionist. I think it (the strategy) is realistic. It is realistic to see how China and the United States define their strategic technologies, where they want to lead and dominate certain technologies, certain supply chains“, explains Tobias Gehrke, researcher at the ECFR (European Council on Foreign Relations).

“If Europe is excluded from some of these technology supply chains, I think there is a real security risk that we need to address also through these security tools.“, he adds.

However, it is the governments that decide on the control of investments. The Commission’s initiative already seems to be dividing the 27. Some Member States fear that this encroaches on the principle of free trade which falls under the national jurisdiction.

The plan will be studied at the end of the month by the 27 heads of state and government at the European summit.

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