On 16 September 2020, in her Letter of Intent accompanying speech on the State of the Union, President Ursula von der Leyen announced that the Commission would put forward a new legislative proposal on an intra-EU investment protection and facilitation framework.

This initiative would address the uneven level of investment protection depending on Member States and concerns about enforcement of rights and effective remedies. As a result, investors may reduce the amount of, or withdraw, existing investments, or redirect investments to third countries.

This upcoming proposal, aiming to boost cross-border investment, is listed as action 15 of the 'New Action Plan on a Capital Markets Union for people and businesses', put forward by the Commission on 24 September 2020. The proposal is expected to be based on three pillars: (i) rules to ensure consistent and predictable protection of intra-EU investments; (ii) better enforcement of these rules, thanks to improved effectiveness of dispute resolution mechanisms at national and/or EU level, while guaranteeing access to national courts;(iii) specific investment facilitation measures, for example, consolidation of information on rights and opportunities for investors in a single access point, promotion of mechanisms for preventive problem resolution by stakeholders, and amicable dispute resolution.

A public consultation on this issue was carried out between 26 May and 8 September 2020.

The 2021 Commission Work Program envisaged the legislative proposal to be adopted in the second quarter of 2021.

The Commission announced that it abandoned the initiative on 3 July 2023.

References:

• European Commission, A Capital Markets Union for people and businesses - New Action Plan, COM(2020) 590, 24 September 2020
• European Commission, Letter of intent to the President David Maria Sassoli and to Chancellor Angela Merkel, 16 September 2020.   
• European Commission, Consultation on Cross-border investment within the EU – clarifying and supplementing EU rules, 2020
• European Commission, Cross-border investment within the EU – clarifying and supplementing EU rules, about this initiative, 2023

Author: Issam Hallak, Members' Research Service, legislative-train@europarl.europa.eu