The Commission’s sixth annual report on the screening of foreign direct investments (FDI) into the EU reveals that the number of notifications to the EU’s cooperation mechanism increased by 40% between 2024 and 2025 – the highest annual rise since the mechanism’s introduction.
In 2025, EU Member States notified 667 investments to the Commission, up from 477 notifications in 2024. Of the 667 cases notified, 88% were closed within 15 days.
The five sectors with the highest number of notifications in 2025 were manufacturing (27% of all transactions), information and communication technologies (19%), financial activities (17%), wholesale and retail (13%), and professional activities (8%).
12% of the investments notified to the Commission required an in-depth security risk assessment – a 4% rise compared to last year. This shows that more transactions are being deemed sensitive for security and public order considerations. Most such cases were in manufacturing, which accounted for 53% of all transactions (up from 50% in 2024). The second-largest sector was information and communication technologies, accounting for almost a fifth of all in-depth assessments (the same share as in 2024). In keeping with 2024 and 2023, the Commission issued opinions in less than 2% of cases.
Since late 2025, all EU Member States now have frameworks in place for screening FDI.
Background
The EU’s new Foreign Investment Screening Regulation (FISR) was adopted on 17 June 2026 and will apply from 17 January 2028. The FISR updates the framework for EU Member States and the Commission to cooperate in screening foreign investments on security and public order grounds – replacing the FDI Screening Regulation, which entered into force in October 2020.
The new regulation will strengthen the EU’s economic security by making the current FDI screening system more effective and more efficient for investors and Member States. With this, the EU will be better equipped to identify and collectively address potential risks from foreign investments to security and public order.
More information
Sixth Annual Report on the Screening of FDI into the EU
