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Germany asks EU to strengthen foreign takeover rules
By EUobserver
In a letter to European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker, German economy minister Brigitte Zypries has requested stronger rules to allow EU countries to block Chinese takeovers of European companies. "Open markets cannot be a one-way street," she wrote. According to the Berlin-based Mercator Institute for China Studies, Chinese EU investments totalled €35bn in 2016, up 77% from 2015, with Germany accounting for 31% of the Chinese investments in Europe.