Europe’s tech chiefs urge EU to ease AI rules, boost growth

Seven of Europe’s top technology chief executives urged the European Union to loosen its grip on artificial intelligence, arguing that Brussels risks turning regulation into a competitive handicap just as U.S. and Asian rivals move faster on scale and commercialization.

The intervention came from leaders at ASML, Airbus, Ericsson, Mistral AI, Nokia, SAP and Siemens, who used a joint appeal to call for simpler AI rules, stronger industrial policy and merger rules that would let European companies grow larger. Their message was not only about AI safety. It was a direct challenge to the bloc’s wider economic model, with the executives warning that Europe faces fragmented markets, underpowered capital formation and subsidized competitors with deep penetration inside the EU.

Christophe Fouquet and the other signatories met European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Brussels last week before putting their case in public. The timing put pressure on the Commission as it prepares to resume talks this month on streamlining the AI Act, the landmark law that entered into force on 1 August 2024 after being published in the Official Journal on 12 July 2024. The regulation was first proposed in April 2021 and won agreement from Parliament and Council in December 2023.

The law is still phasing in. General-purpose AI obligations took effect on 2 August 2025, after the Commission published a voluntary General-Purpose AI Code of Practice on 10 July 2025 and issued guidelines in February 2025 on prohibited AI practices, including harmful manipulation, social scoring and real-time remote biometric identification. That layered rollout has given European companies a moving target to navigate, while executives argue competitors elsewhere are already focused on putting AI into physical systems and robotics.

The Commission has signaled that more policy is coming. Its Tech Sovereignty Package is scheduled for 27 May 2026, according to the European Parliament’s legislative-train schedule, and could include a Cloud and AI Development Act. At the same time, the European Data Protection Board and the European Data Protection Supervisor issued a joint opinion on 21 January 2026 on the Commission’s Digital Omnibus on AI, backing simpler implementation of the AI Act but pressing for stronger fundamental-rights safeguards.

That split captures the fight now running through Brussels. Europe’s tech chiefs are pressing for fewer brakes, but the Commission’s answer has been that trust, rights and clear guardrails are not obstacles to growth. They are the conditions that could help European firms build durable advantage in a market where speed alone no longer decides the outcome.