Italy's Government has taken a fierce protectionist stance when it comes to national companies being taken over by foreign entities. Gianni Origoni's Raimondo Premonte reports

In recent years, national enterprises in Italy and other European countries have generally been protected from possible acquisition by foreign entities interested in investing in the Italian market. Such a trend, although largely spread (especially due to the worldwide financial crisis), has mostly involved those businesses incorporated and developed in Italy with a brand strongly connected to the Italian territory, so that a possible change of ownership in favour of foreign companies could be seen as a loss by the Italian business community of one of its national champions and, of course, of the relevant turnover.

In particular, in spite of continuing efforts to reduce economic barriers among countries inside the European Union, the European market witnessed a wave of protectionism by the governments of member states aimed at bolstering the companies established inside their borders and at limiting the unemployment growth throughout the EU countries: protectionism has been perceived as a tool for governments to defend themselves from the profound effects of the financial crisis.