BERLIN: German ministers plan to approve Wednesday a new law tightening checks on foreign takeovers of the country's companies, aiming to keep critical production and knowhow within its borders.
The weekly cabinet meeting "will deal with" the updated foreign investment law, government sources told AFP. Already in progress before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, the plans have been lent fresh urgency by shortfalls of critical supplies.
"Recent weeks have shown that supplying the German people with items vital for life, like vaccines, can depend on a single company," a government source told the Funke newspaper group. A key element of the reform is lowering the threshold for Berlin to block a takeover by an investor based outside the EU. Instead of demonstrating that the acquisition presents a real danger to German security, in future officials will only have to prove a "likely impact".
Meanwhile takeovers will be placed on ice while the government makes such assessments, preventing the new owners laying hands on any of the target firm´s intellectual property. "Information or technology seeping out during an ongoing investment check can have serious consequences," a government source told Funke.
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani exchange signed agreements....
Former US president Donald Trump awaits opening arguments in his New York 'hush money' trial. — AFP NEW YORK: New...
A representational image of Chinese and German flags. — AFP/File BERLIN: Three Germans have been arrested on...
Ukrainian forces targeting a Russian position in the Kharkiv region on Sunday. — TassMOSCOW: Russia said on Monday...
A representational showing pilgrims gathered around the Kaaba at the Grand Mosque in the holy city of Makkah —...
Taiwan's eastern Hualien region was also the epicentre of a magnitude-7.4 quake in April 3, which caused landslides...