EU countries still can’t get it together on AI

Sixteen EU capitals have missed the August 2025 deadline to appoint a national authority to enforce the bloc's AI Act, the European Commission confirmed, as the EU's 27 leaders prepare to meet Friday in Dublin for their first joint meeting on artificial intelligence. Six countries — Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovakia and Hungary — have not selected an authority, while 10 others have made only provisional decisions, and Brussels has pushed back for a second time the deadline for consortia to express interest in seven AI compute hubs under a €30 billion investment project. German Green MEP Sergey Lagodinsky said the delays undermine capitals' credibility, telling POLITICO: "Stop blaming the EU for missing the race if you miss your own deadlines.

BRUSSELS — As European leaders prepare to project urgency at their first joint meeting on artificial intelligence, their governments are missing important AI safety and infrastructure targets. The bloc’s 27 leaders are meeting Friday in Dublin to discuss how to accelerate efforts to stay safe and be more competitive on artificial intelligence. Yet 16 capitals have missed a deadline to appoint a national authority to enforce the bloc’s AI safety law, and Brussels has also pushed back an effort to support the buildout of data centers because of national administrative delays. Advertisement European Parliament lawmaker Sergey Lagodinsky, a German member of the Greens, said the delays are undermining capitals’ credibility when speaking about Europe’s AI ambitions. “Stop blaming the EU for missing the race if you miss your own deadlines,” he said. “Europe’s AI ambitions cannot be delivered if national capitals cannot get their act together.” In a letter seen by POLITICO, Lagodinsky asked the European Commission to start a formal procedure against capitals for failing to meet their legal requirements under the AI law. Safety has been a growing concern for EU leaders amid a series of incidents of rogue AI agents over summer, more recent cyberattacks and ominous warnings of possible existential risk for humanity from those inside the industry. Brussels has repeatedly pointed out that the EU has regulation in place — its flagship Artificial Intelligence Act — to guard against the threats. With an August 2025 deadline to appoint the national enforcement authority, six countries — Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovakia and Hungary — have not selected an authority, while 10 other capitals have only made a provisional decision that still needs to be adopted, the Commission confirmed. Advertisement Beyond safety, European Council President António Costa said in his invitation letter to Friday’s meeting in Dublin that a key topic will be how to make Europe less dependent on the U.S. and China for the technology underpinning artificial intelligence. But the EU has also delayed the infrastructure buildout necessary for Europe to be competitive, by pushing back plans to support seven AI compute hubs across Europe. The department running that €30 billion investment project announced at the end of October that it would extend the deadline for consortia to express their interest in building these hubs that include massive AI data center projects in different countries. The stated reason for the postponement was “to give member states the necessary time to complete their national budgetary process and submit financial commitments.” It was the second delay in a row, after the initial November deadline moved to February. Jan Kavalírek, who had a brief stint last year as the Czech government’s AI envoy and is involved in the Czech bid, posted on LinkedIn: “Apparently, some paperwork wasn't submitted on time,” alongside a shrugging emoji. “I think it’s very important, that it’s essential that we keep some timeline and condition that were presented at the beginning,” he told POLITICO. “Of course, this also applies to the member states, which should be able to keep up with the deadlines and deliver all necessary documents in time to Brussels.”