EESC calls for swift, concrete action to accelerate AI deployment across the EU, especially for SMEs and scale-ups. In a global AI race driven by speed and scale, Europe must position reliability and trustworthiness as its defining strengths.

At its January plenary session, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) gave its backing to the European Commission's Apply AI Strategy, which seeks to move AI from research and hype to real use in business and public services.

During a plenary debate with the European Commission and AI experts before the adoption of the EESC's opinion on the strategy, the EESC stressed that AI must be trustworthy, transparent and human-centric. Europe’s competitive advantage lies in an approach to AI that considers both technological progress and the protection of human dignity, workers’ rights and fundamental freedoms.

EESC President Séamus Boland said: ‘As AI evolves rapidly, Europe cannot afford fragmented approaches or uneven capabilities across Member States and sectors. The gap between technological innovation and practical deployment is still significant, and we must address it collectively.’

Lucilla Sioli, Director of the Artificial Intelligence Office at the European Commission, said that the slow progress in governance implementation across Member States risks undermining the development of trustworthy and compliant AI: ‘We call on the Member States to revise their AI strategies and align them with the vision and ambitions of the Apply AI Strategy.

In its opinion, the EESC calls for swift, concrete action to accelerate AI deployment across the EU, particularly for SMEs and scale-ups. It strongly advocates simpler access to funding, lighter administrative requirements and clearer intellectual property rules, alongside stronger regional AI ecosystems built on European digital innovation hubs. The Committee also stresses the need for sustained investment in AI skills.

Max Reddel, Advanced AI Director at the Centre for Future Generations, commended the EESC’s emphasis on building sovereign European AI capabilities and avoiding dependence on foreign AI systems, including non-European frontier models.

'Europe’s strength is reliability. We build technology that doesn’t break. ASML’s lithography machines. Airbus aircraft. Technologies so precise and dependable that we lead markets others pioneered. We can replicate this in AI,’ Mr Reddel said. (ll)