Protect economic crown jewels from foreign takeover during the corona crisis

“The corona crisis is having a huge impact on our economy and has temporarily weakened many of our companies. Our government must look after them and protect them in this time of crisis.” Following the example of Spain and Germany, the N-VA proposes that measures be taken to temporarily protect our strategic sectors and safeguard key companies from foreign takeover.

An eye for strategic sectors

Member of the European Parliament Johan Van Overtveldt shares this view. “The federal government must take action as soon as possible to protect our companies and be ready to assist when these companies have additional capitalisation needs. We need to be concerned about our own strategic sectors and prevent foreign players from taking over these companies for a bargain price because of the current economic crisis and market volatility.”

Avoiding foreign raiders

In a global crisis such as the current one, other countries will not hesitate to protect their strategic sectors. As a small player, we must act now to prevent our companies from being taken over by foreign buyers so that we do not suddenly realise after the crisis that we have let some economic giants slip through our fingers. The N-VA thus also wants the elaboration of this to be a priority on the agenda of the economic recovery group. We absolutely must avoid foreign companies getting hold of our crown jewels.

Anchoring strategic companies

“Just as we must protect our strategic companies, after the corona crisis it will be essential to open the debate on the production facilities of various strategic sectors on European soil. This debate is absolutely necessary to anchor the production capacity of these strategic companies in Europe, especially with a view to a future crisis”, concludes the N-VA.