The European Union is launching further initiatives designed to support the development of Europe’s artificial intelligence sector. These include measures to encourage investment, strengthen technological sovereignty and reduce the cybersecurity risks associated with AI. According to Polish MEP Piotr Müller, however, excessive regulation and high energy prices could undermine Europe’s attractiveness to investors. In his view, developing the EU’s own technological capabilities and pursuing a more assertive policy towards suppliers from third countries would be more effective than introducing additional regulations.
“The biggest problem for investment is the new regulatory environment. We can see this in several areas. I work on artificial intelligence in the European Parliament, and we can see that investors are effectively not investing in the development of this breakthrough technology in Europe, even though it is advancing faster than any other technology in human history. They are choosing either the United States or China because Europe has become an extremely heavily regulated market in this field,” Piotr Müller, a Law and Justice MEP, told the Newseria news agency.
“Very few companies are willing to take the risk of investing millions of euros here. They prefer to invest in the United States and later export the service to the European Union. The two biggest obstacles to investment in Europe are regulation and energy prices. These are the two factors most frequently mentioned by investors from around the world.”
Artificial intelligence is covered by one of the omnibus packages proposed by the European Commission to simplify EU legislation. At the end of June 2026, the Council of the European Union approved a regulation forming part of Omnibus VII. Among other measures, it postpones until August 2, 2027, the deadline for national authorities to establish regulatory sandboxes for artificial intelligence.
The regulation also shortens the period available to AI system providers to introduce transparency measures for artificially generated content from six months to three months. The new deadline has been set for December 2, 2026.
Some provisions of the EU AI Act are already in force, while further requirements will apply from August 2, 2026. These include rules concerning the labelling of content generated or modified by artificial intelligence, the identification of deepfakes and the obligation to inform users when they are interacting with an AI system.
“Europe has the financial resources to compete with the United States and China, but it does not provide sufficient freedom to operate,” Müller said. “Excessive regulation of artificial intelligence, as well as other areas of the economy, means that global talent does not come to Europe to build new companies. Instead, people move to the United States, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, Australia or China.”
“Unfortunately, there are very few examples of this kind of success in Europe. At the same time, many Europeans are achieving remarkable results outside the European Union.”
Europe remains dependent on foreign technology
Europe urgently needs investment in artificial intelligence because of its significant technological dependence on third countries. Nearly 80% of the digital infrastructure and technologies used in EU member states originate outside the European Union.
The European Commission has launched InvestAI, an initiative intended to mobilise €200 billion in investment in artificial intelligence. This includes a new €20 billion European fund dedicated to the development of AI gigafactories.
In June, the Commission also proposed a technological sovereignty package aimed at strengthening Europe’s capabilities in semiconductors, artificial intelligence, cloud technologies and open-source software.
Brussels is also focusing on the growing cybersecurity risks associated with the rapid development of AI. The European Commission has proposed an action plan designed both to reduce threats arising from increasingly advanced AI models and to make better use of artificial intelligence in protecting Europe against cyberattacks.
“The development of artificial intelligence represents an enormous cybersecurity challenge,” Müller said. “These models make it possible to carry out large-scale attacks on critical infrastructure in ways that were previously impossible.”
“There are many examples of AI infrastructure developed in the United States or China that can facilitate this type of attack. Europe therefore faces an enormous challenge in defending itself. Regulation alone will not be sufficient. Europe needs to develop its own technologies that are capable of protecting it against such threats.”
AI could help protect critical infrastructure
The European Commission’s document proposes the creation of European capabilities for assessing the security of artificial intelligence models. It also calls for public institutions and businesses to receive better access to the most advanced AI systems.
Another proposed measure is the launch of a platform for testing the use of AI in critical sectors, including energy, financial services, transport and healthcare.
“It is also essential that critical infrastructure in Europe is developed and protected properly,” Müller said. “The greatest challenge, and this is an approach I support, is to pursue a highly assertive policy towards manufacturers of hardware and software from authoritarian and undemocratic countries, including China. Their involvement represents a significant risk to European security.”
“Unfortunately, not everyone follows this approach. We recently saw the Spanish government authorise Chinese devices and allow them to be used in some of the most critical elements of Spain’s infrastructure. That is a serious mistake, and I believe such a decision should never have been made.”
Public administration is the most frequently attacked sector
According to the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity’s ENISA Threat Landscape 2025 report, public administration is the sector most exposed to cyberattacks. It accounted for more than 38% of the incidents analysed in the report.
Transport ranked second, representing 7.5% of incidents, followed by digital infrastructure and services at 4.8%, the financial sector at 4.5% and manufacturing at 2.9%.
“These attacks are not possible solely because artificial intelligence has become so advanced,” the Polish MEP explained. “Critical infrastructure frequently relies on old devices that can provide access to sensitive systems.”
“Artificial intelligence is a tool that can be used to identify and exploit vulnerabilities in equipment that has not been modernised or properly secured.”
