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EU commissioner wants foreign investment review board

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Germany has also expressed interest, even though its Economy Minister Rainer Bruederle is personally opposed, Tajani said.The commissioner unveiled in December a plan to create an authority tasked with reviewing foreign investment in Europe similar to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).Bruederle, a member of the pro-business Free Democratic Party, expressed scepticism at the time.

Tajani stressed that foreign investment in Europe was welcome but said: "An investor should commit themselves clearly and not just have in mind the theft of know-how or technology."He has written to Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso to get the ball rolling, a letter co signed by the EU's internal market commissioner Michel Barnier.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011