The Green Party advocates for a significantly stricter regulatory review of acquisitions of companies deemed critical to national security and strategically important, particularly when those acquisitions involve foreign investors. This position is detailed in a draft resolution the party plans to submit to the Bundestag. The statement emphasizes that “national security is more endangered than ever” noting that instead of learning from the vulnerability created by Russian gas dependence, Germany is willingly entering a new, asymmetrical dependency. Among the concerns raised are investors whose primary interests align with the “America-First” agenda of US President Donald Trump.
The debate was prompted by the recent takeover of Tanquid, a company operating nearly a fifth of Germany’s oil and petrochemical storage facilities. Early this year, Tanquid was acquired by the Texas corporation Sunoco, which is led by Kelcy Warren, a vocal admirer and financial supporter of Trump. Although the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs stipulated that Tanquid had to divest its subsidiary FBG-which supplies kerosene to NATO air bases in Germany-the Green Party’s energy policy spokesperson, Michael Kellner, argued that the entire process revealed the government’s continued careless handling of the country’s critical infrastructure. Kellner labeled the Tanquid-Sunoco deal a “strategic risk” given that energy imports have functioned as a geopolitical weapon.
From a Green perspective, the process for vetting investments must undergo fundamental reforms, applying not only to energy infrastructure but also to vital sectors such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence, and biotechnology. The proposed resolution asserts that authorities require “sharper instruments to prevent critical dependencies without sacrificing the general openness to investment”. The core demand is to retain technological key areas and all relevant parts of critical infrastructure “in European hands to proactively protect security interests, rather than merely engaging in reactive crisis management”.
Specifically, Kellner and his colleagues advocate for a rule that prevents third-country investors from circumventing national review mechanisms by operating through subsidiary companies within the EU. Furthermore, future reviews should examine all significant avenues of influence from a potential buyer, rather than focusing solely on nominal voting shares. Crucially, in the area of critical infrastructure, considerations of supply security must take precedence over the principle of free foreign trade.