France on Wednesday unveiled new weapons in its arsenal for protecting French companies against on Wednesday foreign bidders, as its politicians came under fire over their rising protectionist rhetoric.

Dominique de Villepin, France’s prime minister, outlined fresh plans to boost employee share-ownership and to use the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations (CDC), the biggest institutional investor in the CAC-40, into a domestic buffer to ward off foreign takeovers.