The German government has approved a measure to make it easier for the state to veto takeovers of certain firms by foreign investors to protect the country’s technical “know-how”.

The move lets the government block foreign takeovers if they “could endanger so-called critical infrastructure”, particularly software firms that work with banks, airports and hospitals, managing cloud data or telecommunications, reported German newspaper the Süddeutsche Zeitung.

The overall aim of the Economy Ministry’s proposal, approved by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cabinet on Wednesday, is to stop Germany losing their control to foreign countries.

Matthias Machnig, the state secretary, said: “We know that there is critical infrastructure that is attractive to ­investors. We are indeed an open economy, but we are not naive.”