Investment Policy of the European Union. Empirical Evidence of the Effects of Foreign Direct Investment on The European Union Economy

The paper deals with the evolution during a period of over 60 years of the investment policy of the European Union, pointing out the main moments that marked the steps taken towards the progressive shaping of an increasingly unitary character of this policy. The increase of the interest of foreign investors for strategic, sensitive sectors of the economy of the member countries determined, after 2017, a change in the philosophy of establishing and applying the Union's investment policy, materialized in the more precise definition of "foreign investor" and in implementing a more rigorous mechanism of control of foreign direct investment. Further on are presented the main effects of foreign investment in the Community economy, resulting from empirical studies on this topic, the conclusions reached by these studies being sometimes divergent.