The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has submitted a bill to Parliament proposing the creation of a national mechanism to oversee foreign direct investments for reasons of national security and public order.

This is the most significant innovation of Georgios Gerapetritas’s legislative initiative, with Deputy Tassos Hatzivasileiou presenting the details to the Committee on National Defense and Foreign Affairs.

The purpose of the new framework is to prevent malicious investors from gaining control over businesses and infrastructures of strategic importance to the country.

The mechanism covers three main categories:

• Vital sectors, such as defense, energy, transportation, digital infrastructures, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence.
• Port and critical subsea infrastructures.
• Tourist infrastructures in border regions, such as Thrace and the islands of the Northeast Aegean, following related concerns raised by Members of Parliament about increased Turkish investments.

The bill provides for the creation of a Interministerial Committee for Foreign Investment Control (ΔΕΕΑΞΕ), composed of general secretaries from the relevant ministries. The Committee makes recommendations, but the final decision remains with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, who can approve, reject, or approve under conditions any investment.

The decision must be issued within 60 days of the recommendation; otherwise, the investment is considered approved.

Key element of the initiative is the identification of the ultimate investor to prevent concealment through complex corporate structures. The bill does not exclude investors based on nationality but aims to ensure transparency regarding the origin of funds.

This national initiative enhances the existing European Regulation 2019/452, which allows for joint supervision of investments if requested by at least nine EU member states. However, the European system remains limited in effectiveness, as demonstrated by the difficulty in activating control during the acquisition of the Italian Piaggio by the Turkish Baykar.