Foreign Direct Investment Screening and the Commitment to Maintain an Open Investment Climate.

Nowadays, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is perceived more negatively due to the potential risks it poses to, amongst others, national securtiy and public order. In the European Union, the adverse change in the perception and appreciation of inward foreign investment has led to a range of regulatory changes. An investment screening framework is being put in place on the European and national level to identify and mitigate the risks associated with FDI in a coordinated manner. However, in doing so, the European Union and its member states do not want to abandon the traditional premise of a liberal and principally open investment climate. The proposed research aims to analyze if both objectives can be reconciled by (i) functionally and structurally comparing individual screening mechanisms (ii) against a set of legal conditions that are deemed necessary to create and maintain a principally open investment climate.