Italy’s “Golden Power”: New protectionism or legitimate protection? The article by Filippo Mazza for Global Competition Review

On Global Competition Review, an article by Filippo Mazza about the use of “golden power” by the Italian government in the current historical period.
Italy seems to be experiencing an unprecedented wave of national protectionism to curtail foreign investments by means of the Golden Power Legislation, which came into force in 2012 and allows the government to limit or stop investments involving strategic assets in defence and critical infrastructure sectors.
Despite being operational for more than a decade, the legislation has significantly expanded its scope in recent times, following the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
While Italy is steadily recovering from the covid-19 pandemic and is currently the leading EU country in terms of GDP growth, foreign investors are expressing concerns over unprecedented government control. The Italian government is using in fact this legislation to more effectively protect Italian strategic assets from potentially hostile actors during a period of significant geopolitical challenges.
The full in-depth analysis of the procedures and areas of application of the golden power, as well as key interventions by the Italian government, is available to subscribers here.