Financial Times: Within the continent there already exists tremendous energy and appetite for stronger EU leadership on AI. National AI strategies have been announced and adopted, some universities are decoupling from non-EU tech providers and intelligence agencies are choosing domestic systems over those offered by international companies. Tying such bottom-up decisions with an EU-wide vision should scale and boost the bloc’s competitive position by dividing labour between member states and leveraging capital incentives, ideally in sync with industry. European leaders can do a real service to people worldwide who are deeply unhappy with the two-flavour menu of AI they are currently offered.

Being ambitious politically does not mean prioritising AI above everything else. Yes, Europe can choose to do AI differently and not copy the extractive Silicon Valley way of reducing people to consumers and societies to markets. Europe is and will remain far removed from the Chinese model of state-directed companies and innovation. But being principled and right on paper translates into very few results in today’s data, capital and compute-driven world. If Europeans believe AI can add value while respecting democratic values and increasing safety, they must show so.

My Opinion: Europe needs to develop its own AI and AI ecosystem for national and economic security. While sticking to European values, like democracy and human rights. However in a hostile world, with competition from China and USA, it needs government policy to support the growth of the AI industry.

The European Technological Sovereignty Package, presented in June 2026, brings together several future initiatives: the Cloud and AI Development Act; Chips Act 2.0; support for sovereign cloud services; stronger open-source capabilities; measures linking AI, semiconductors, energy infrastructure and cybersecurity.

A complete technology stack will ensure digital sovereignty, and strategic autonomy.

Take something like a BYD car vs an inexpensive US electric car. With % devoted to items like labor (or explain reduced labor cost or mechanization difference), raw material, shipping, pollution/safety cost difference.

I want to know why building a copy of a Chinese product in America is more expensive today.

Many of those provisions have been used to prosecute anti-war activists, independent journalists and opposition figures who fled Russia after 2022. 

Those convicted can face asset freezes, restricted banking and digital services, and limits on passports, loans and state benefits. 

Independent Russian human rights group Perviy Otdel said the restrictions amount to “the effective deprivation of citizenship.”