25 Amendments of Bruno GONÇALVES related to 2024/0017(COD)
Amendment 37 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 8 a (new)
Recital 8 a (new)
(8 a) As referred to in the European Commission's Guidance to the Member States concerning foreign direct investment and free movement of capital from third countries4a , in the early phases of the Covid-19 crisis, economic shocks have an increased risk to EU strategic assets, and may lead to a loss of critical assets and technology. Therefore, responses in crisis situations should therefore provide proper weight and caution to the potential loss of critical assets. _________________ 4a https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal- content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52020XC0 326(03)
Amendment 43 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 10
Recital 10
(10) Regulation (EU) 2019/452 only covers FDIs made from third countries into the Union. However, it is also necessary to extend the scope of the cooperation mechanism to investments made between Member States, where the investor in one Member State is controlled, directly or indirectly, by a foreign entity regardless of whether the ultimate owner is located in the Union or elsewhere. In particular, this extended scope is appropriate to ensure that any investment creating a lasting link between the foreign investor and the Union target, whether it is carried out directly by a foreign investor or through an entity established in the Union and controlled by a foreign investor, is consistently captured and assessed. This should foster the consistency and predictability of screening rules across Member States, which in turn will reduce compliance costs for foreign investors and limit incentives to target an investment in Member States where such transactions are out of scope.
Amendment 45 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 11
Recital 11
(11) Investments in Union targets carried out by foreign investors, including investments executed through a controlled entity in the Union, may present specific risks to security and public order in the Union and its Member States. Such investor-related risks should not be present and therefore do not need to be addressed in an investment that only involves entities where no ownership, control, connection to or influence from foreign investors is present, including when a foreign investor participates in the Union entity without a controlling stake. Avoiding any divergence in the rules applicable to the treatment of foreign investments, regardless of whether they are made from outside the Union directly or through an entity already established in the Union, is necessary to ensure a coherent investment screening framework and the Union control mechanism. This framework reflects the importance of protecting security and public order and is exclusively targeted at risks that may arise from investments involving foreign entities. Therefore, Member States should ensure at least the screening of those foreign investments, which relate to projects or programmes of Union interest or, where the Union target is active in areas, where a foreign investment may affect security or public order in more than one Member State, or where the transaction involves a foreign investor linked either to a country identified in the list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes or to a sanctioned country. Member States should also be able to screen other foreign investments. When they do so, such screening should also comply with the provisions of this Regulation. Transactions with no foreign investor involvement or in which the level of involvement does not lead to the direct or indirect control of the Union entity are not covered by this Regulation.
Amendment 49 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 16
Recital 16
(16) Foreign investments that create or maintain lasting and direct links between investors from third countries (including state bodies) and Union targets carrying out an economic activity in a Member State should fall within the scope of this Regulation. This should apply where those investments are directly carried out from third countries or by a Union entity with foreign control, including all situations in which control is acquired as set out in the Merger Regulation. However, the framework should not cover the acquisition of company securities intended purely for financial investment without any intention there there is no influence the management and control of the undertaking (portfolio investments). Restructuring operations within a group of companies or a merger of more than one legal entities into a single legal entity do not constitute a foreign investment, provided that there is no increase in the shares held by foreign investors, or the transaction does not result in additional rights that may lead to a change in the effective participation of one or more foreign investors in the management or control of a Union target.
Amendment 53 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 17
Recital 17
(17) Greenfield foreign investments occur where the foreign investor or a foreign investor’s subsidiary in the Union sets up new facilities or a new undertaking in the Union. Greenfield foreign investments should fall within the scope of this Regulation to the extent they are considered relevant by a Member State for the purpose of the screening of foreign investments because they create lasting and direct links between a foreign investor and such facilities or such undertakings. In addition, by setting up new facilities, a foreign investor can impact on security and public order, including when that risk concerns essential economic inputs. Member States are therefore encouraged to include greenfield foreign investments in the scope of transactions covered by their screening mechanisms, in particular when such investments occur in sectors relevant to their security or public order or when they present characteristics such as size or essential nature to be relevant to their security or public order.
Amendment 56 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 20 a (new)
Recital 20 a (new)
(20 a) In order to provide further clarity and safeguards against vulnerabilities to security or public order, in the case the transaction involves a foreign investor linked to a third country currently deemed, under the scope of the Anti- Coercion Instrument, to seek either preventing or obtaining the cessation, modification or adoption of a particular act by the Union or a Member State, thereby interfering in the legitimate choices of the Union or a Member State, a determination of negative impact on security and public order shall be automatically applicable by the screening Member State.
Amendment 65 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 30
Recital 30
(30) To ensure that the cooperation is based on complete and accurate information, a foreign investor or an undertaking should provide any relevant information requested by the Member State where they are established or the Member State where the foreign investment is planned or completed. In exceptional circumstances, when, despite its best efforts, a Member State is unable to obtain an information requested by another Member State or the Commission, it should notify them without delay. In such a case, any comment issued by another Member State, or any opinion issued by the Commission as part of the cooperation mechanism should be based on the information available to them.
Amendment 75 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 44
Recital 44
(44) The Commission should evaluate the functioning and effectiveness of this Regulation 52 years after the date of application of this Regulation and every 52 years after that and present a report to the European Parliament and to the Council. That report should include an assessment of whether or not this Regulation should be amended, including the introduction of binding criteria leading to an automatic determination of negative impact on security and public order, and the establishment of conditions under which the Commission can directly suspend or block a foreign investment. Where the report proposes amending this Regulation, it may be accompanied by a legislative proposal.
Amendment 84 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 1 – paragraph 3
Article 1 – paragraph 3
3. Member States may adopt or maintain in force national provisions in fields not coordinated by this Regulation, as long as their content does not restrict the scope of this Regulation.
Amendment 86 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 2
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 2
(2) ‘foreign direct investment’ means an investment of any kind by a foreign investor aiming to establish or to maintain lasting and direct links between the foreign investor and an existing or to be established Union target, and to which target the foreign investor makes capital available in order to carry out an economic activity in a Member State;
Amendment 88 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 3
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 3
(3) ‘investment within the Union with foreign control’ means an investment of any kind carried out by a foreign investor through the foreign investor’s subsidiary in the Union, that aims to establish or to maintain lasting and direct links between the foreign investor and a Union target that exists or is to be established, and to which target the foreign investor makes capital available in order to carry out an economic activity in a Member State and, in any case, covers all situations in which control is acquired over the foreign investor's subsidiary as set out in Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004, Article 3, paragraph 2;
Amendment 89 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 3 a (new)
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 3 a (new)
(3 a) ‘control’ means a situation as set out in Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004, Article 3, paragraph 2;
Amendment 94 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 11 a (new)
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 11 a (new)
(11 a) 'sanctioned country' means a jurisdiction currently being sanctioned by the Union as a whole, or individually by the Member State conducting the screening process;
Amendment 113 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 4 – paragraph 4 – point b a (new)
Article 4 – paragraph 4 – point b a (new)
(b a) is subject to a transaction involving a foreign investor linked to a country identified in either Annex I or Annex II of the list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes;
Amendment 114 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 4 – paragraph 4 – point b b (new)
Article 4 – paragraph 4 – point b b (new)
(b b) is subject to a transaction involving a foreign investor linked to a sanctioned country, at the time of the transaction;
Amendment 118 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 5 – paragraph 1 – point a
Article 5 – paragraph 1 – point a
(a) meets the conditions set out in Article 4(4) point (a), or Article 4(4) point (ba), or Article 4(4) point (bb); or
Amendment 147 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 10 – paragraph 7
Article 10 – paragraph 7
Amendment 151 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 13 – paragraph 3 – point c a (new)
Article 13 – paragraph 3 – point c a (new)
(c a) the capacity of a Member State or the Union to acquire or maintain equipment or systems that are necessary for defence purposes;
Amendment 152 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 13 – paragraph 3 – point c b (new)
Article 13 – paragraph 3 – point c b (new)
(c b) the Union's strategic autonomy, considered via the total market share held by non-foreign investors of the specific sector;
Amendment 162 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 13 – paragraph 4 a (new)
Article 13 – paragraph 4 a (new)
4 a. If the foreign investor is linked to a third country deemed, under the scope of Regulation 2023/2675, to seek either preventing or obtaining the cessation, modification or adoption of a particular act by the Union or a Member State, thereby interfering in the legitimate sovereign choices of the Union or a Member State, an automatic determination of negative impact on security and public order shall apply.
Amendment 171 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 18 – paragraph 1
Article 18 – paragraph 1
1. The Commission shall evaluate the functioning and effectiveness of this Regulation 5two years after the date of application of this Regulation and every 5two years thereafter and present a report to the European Parliament and to the Council. Member States shall be involved in this exercise and, if necessary, provide the Commission with additional information for the preparation of that report. The evaluation shall, in particular but not exclusively, assess the establishment of criteria for:
Amendment 175 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 18 – paragraph 1 – point i (new)
Article 18 – paragraph 1 – point i (new)
(i) the Commission to be formally empowered to directly suspend or block a foreign investment;
Amendment 176 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 18 – paragraph 1 – point ii (new)
Article 18 – paragraph 1 – point ii (new)
(ii) an automatic determination of negative impact on security and public order;
Amendment 177 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 18 – paragraph 1 – point iii (new)
Article 18 – paragraph 1 – point iii (new)
(iii) expanding the scope of this Regulation to safety and resilience of food and water supplies, including agricultural land;
Amendment 190 #
Proposal for a regulation
Annex I – point 8 a (new)
Annex I – point 8 a (new)
8 a. Critical Raw Materials Act Regulation (EU) 2024/1252 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 April 2024 establishing a framework for ensuring a secure and sustainable supply of critical raw materials and amending Regulations (EU) No 168/2013, (EU) 2018/858, (EU) 2018/1724 and (EU) 2019/1020 (OJ L, 2024/1252, 3.5.2024, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1252/oj )