European Tech CEOs Urge Faster Policymaking from EU Commission

BRUSSELS — A group of European tech CEOs wants the ear of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to speed up policymaking to the benefit of the bloc's industrial leaders.

"You cannot make very complex policies and then say we’re going to simplify. It’s a lot better if you do the right policy in the first place," Christophe Fouquet, CEO of Dutch chips giant ASML, told reporters in Brussels on Monday, echoing a message he gave in an exclusive interview with POLITICO last month.

Fouquet, together with the heads of aerospace giant Airbus, telecoms giant Ericsson and AI pioneer Mistral, met with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to press the EU to cut more red tape, rethink merger rules and bet on homegrown champions against the U.S.

It is part of a new standing dialogue called the European Tech Creators, which includes heavyweights Airbus, ASML, Ericsson, Mistral, Nokia, SAP and Siemens. The group wants the EU institutions to better serve their needs — much like the entente between government and industry seen in competing regions like the United States and China.

"We need to talk all the time because what is at stake for Europe is significant. And establishing a dialog takes time," ASML’s Fouquet said. "The people we compete with are doing that extremely effectively," he said.

Guillaume Faury, the CEO of Airbus, said: "We are coming from the same understanding that what Europe is doing today is not what Europe should be doing ... If it is a lobbying exercise, it’s a lobbying exercise for successful Europe."

The group got a recent audience with von der Leyen in late April and carried a blunt message: deregulate, or else squander Europe’s future as an innovation powerhouse. A week later, with a strong nudge from Germany, industry scored wins in the AI simplification bill with fewer rules and a postponed deadline.

Part of their pitch is for Brussels to deregulate faster, ease the path to mergers and complete the single market, in closer consultation with industry.

"We have allowed the market to be fully fragmented, giving no one the scale to be competitive," Börje Ekholm, the outgoing CEO of Ericsson, argued. "We need to take a step back and take an industrial thought process here."

And speed is also of the essence. "In AI, things are moving extremely fast. The problem we have is that in two years, it might already be too late," the co-founder of French AI champion Mistral, Arthur Mensch, said. He said the Commission's latest proposal on cloud and AI development was a step in the right direction but much too slow.

Von der Leyen has championed a pro-industry agenda of deregulation since starting her second mandate as EU chief. But a recent appointment of Siemens Chairman Jim Hagemann Snabe as a Commission adviser on industrial AI drew criticism from opponents who argued the EU executive was too close to Europe's industry giants.

“The President asked someone from the industry to come and help, and that someone decided to go and help. And the only way we reward that decision is by accusing that person of conflict of interest,” lamented ASML's Fouquet.

Pieter Haeck contributed reporting.