The Court of Justice rejects the Hungarian Golden Power. Lessons for us

The case concerning the veto over the acquisition of a company that manages a quarry by a company incorporated under Hungarian law must be read carefully by the Italian government, which sent the report for 2022 to Parliament a few days ago

After years of irresistible expansion of foreign investment control throughout Europe, the Court of Justice, with its ruling in case C-106/22 of 13 July, has, for the first time since the now ancient rulings on the golden share, placed a limit to the claim of member states to exercise special veto and prescription powers in an increasing number of sectors and cases. To strike a blow it was necessary to wait for an ‘exorbitant’ provision by a government not much loved in Brussels, the Hungarian one (by the way, praise to the national judge who referred the preliminary question to the Luxembourg Court). The case concerned the veto of the takeover of a company operating a gravel, sand and clay quarry by a company incorporated under Hungarian law governed by a complex chain of control.