European Commission - Economy and Finance

02/06/2026

FRANCE 24 travelled across Europe—including a stop at the Brussels Economic Forum —to explore how the EU is seizing AI’s opportunities while ensuring it doesn’t fall behind.

Watch this new episode to discover how the EU is upskilling its workforce to prepare for AI-driven disruption, boosting AI-powered manufacturing, and expanding European computing capacity to stay competitive.

EN - Talking Europe - https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20260601-europe-s-fight-to-stay-in-the-ai-race

FR - Ici l'Europe - https://www.france24.com/fr/europe/20260601-l-union-europ%C3%A9enne-face-%C3%A0-la-r%C3%A9volution-de-l-intelligence-artificielle

This week’s special edition of Talking Europe asks whether the EU is ready for the disruption that comes with Artificial Intelligence. It is the most important technological revolution of the century,…

29/05/2026

The 26th Brussels Economic Forum's most powerful moments are just a click away:

🎬 Watch our aftermovie and

📺 Catch up on what you missed. Replay the full event:
https://link.europa.eu/9GXGWw

21/05/2026

The Brussels Economic Forum was a great success. 👏
On 7 May, we gathered decision-makers, experts, academics to discuss how the EU economy can compete with the world in artificial intelligence.

If you missed , or you would like to rewatch segments, check our:
https://lnkd.in/eTFurtSe

🗝️Keynote speech by Prime Minister of Luxembourg Luc Frieden
🔗https://lnkd.in/e5waRnuy

🗣️Tommaso Padoa Schioppa address by 2025 Nobel-laureate economist Philippe Aghion
🔗https://lnkd.in/e9DEWN2R

👥 Economic impact of AI - panel discussion by Valdis Dombrovskis, Isabelle Schömann, Martin E. Sandbu, Stefan Hartung, Louise Burke.
🔗https://lnkd.in/eWc-DSTk

🤖 Visions for Europe - TED-style talks on various aspects of AI and economy by 3 visionaries Daniel Susskind, Dr. Milagros Miceli, Philipp Hacker
🔗https://lnkd.in/e3PG7tZ9

👥Geoeconomics of AI - panel discussion by Jochen Hanebeck, Noreena Hertz, Frank Karlitschek, Mārtiņš Kazāks, Eva Maydell (Paunova)
🔗https://lnkd.in/e7ChTmSy

🆚 Should Europe regulate AI more to distribute its benefits fairly? In an Oxford-style debate Marietje Schaake argued for, Fredrik Erixon argued against the motion.
🔗https://lnkd.in/eJpAAXUa

21/05/2026

Inflation has been fuelled by surging energy prices since March. The energy shock set off by the Middle East conflict is forecast to have a higher impact throughout 2026, slightly easing in 2027.

Oil and gas prices could stay high for longer than assumed in the baseline projections. A larger and more persistent disruption would not only affect oil and gas markets, but also weaken global growth and trade, depress confidence, and raise risk premia.

In the 2026 🌸Spring , we have made calculations for a downside scenario as well, whereby physical and logistical constraints would continue to limit oil and gas exports from the Gulf countries well into early 2027 instead of the initially foreseen summer of 2026.

👀 See our analysis: https://link.europa.eu/jhMNMB

21/05/2026

In its Spring🌸 2026 the European Commission has projected weaker economic activity than it was foreseen in November:

📈 GROWTH
after reaching 1.5% in 2025, GDP growth in the EU is now expected to slow down to 1.1% in 2026—a downward revision of 0.3 percentage points.

💶 INFLATION
The EU’s economy is highly susceptible to the energy shock caused by the conflict in the Middle East. As a consequence, inflation in the EU is expected to reach 3.1% in 2026—a full percentage point higher than previously forecast—easing again to 2.4% in 2027.

We have assessed that the EU’s investment in energy resilience, especially in the aftermath of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, is paying off. The push towards supply diversification, decarbonisation, and lower energy consumption has left the EU economy better placed to absorb today’s shock.

Growth, inflation, unemployment, public finances both on EU- and country-level, as well as a series of analyses on energy, AI and the labour market.
⬇️⬇️⬇️
This is the Spring🌸 2026 Economic Forecast brought to you by the European Commission.

Check it out!
🔗https://link.europa.eu/BHQBJr

07/05/2026

It's a wrap for !
The Brussels Economic Forum has come to an end.

Thank you for watching, we hope that you enjoyed the debate.
See you next year at .

07/05/2026

❓More or less EU regulation on AI? - this was the final question at the Brussels Economic Forum.

🆚 In an Oxford-style debate Marietje In Europa argued for, while Fredrik Erixon argued against more EU rules on the development of artificial intelligence.

The goal was for the speakers to convince the audience of their line.

Starting the debate with 87% of the audience in favour of more EU regulation, Marietje Schaake argued that there are big tradeoffs when it comes to AI development: public vs private financing, security vs innovation, environment vs industry, but these tradeoff decisions are primarily made by big tech companies of which the EU doesn't have many.

'Democratic regulation is what is needed', she added.

🆚

Fredrik Erixon painted a gloomy picture of the AI situation in the EU: 'We are behind technological progress, our workers use AI less than in the US. Our productivity grows slower and income development is poorer.'

Erixon said that the EU is overregulated, not only by AI act, but by other EU legislation. He believes that this hinders the EU and makes AI less accessible for people.

After the debate, 54% remained in favour of more regulation.

07/05/2026

Europe is not leading the AI race in technological terms, but its democratic oversight, regulatory environment and sensitivity to children, society and climate put the EU in the forefront of the global AI competition - this is what all participants agreed at in a panel discussion about Europe's place in the global AI race.

MEP Eva Maydell (Paunova) believes that lagging behind doesn't meant that Europe is irrelevant. The EU has a unique advantage: deep industrial base, high quality data and strong research. She added, the key is energy in an acceptable price, this would be needed for Europe to be able to scale.

The governor of the Bank of Latvia agreed with the problem of expensive energy, on the other hand he said 'Europe was not doomed. We have the democratic oversight, we have talent, we have specialised models.'

Mārtiņš Kazāks added that Europe lacks infrastructure, cloud centres, and more importantly, European financial markets are not fit for the purpose, 'they are too dependent on banks.'

Noreena Hertz, honorary professor for UCL Policy Lab raised the question of what AI race exactly Europe wants to win. 'If the race is big frontier models, we are behind. If the race is to ensure AI doesn’t harm our children, society, climate, the EU has a good chance.'

Hertz challenged the recurring question: innovation or regulation by saying that these 2 are not necessarily enemies. 'In China, for example, the AI sector is heavily regulated but they are still innovating incredibly well.

Founder and CEO of Nextcloud has brought it even farther: 'I completely disagree that EU regulation makes it impossible to compete as entrepreneurs in Europe.' Frank Karlitschek said what is missing is the enforcement of legislation. He would also unlock the capital market and have a better transition between research and the private sector.

The CEO of semiconductor manufacturer Infineon Technologies praised Europe's regulations, but would speed up the pace in innovation. Jochen Hanebeck added that we have to build competences as there are many facets to the AI sector that Europe can play a role in. 'Let's make sure we are at the table.'

07/05/2026

A series of visionary speakers took the floor at the Brussels Economic Forum to analyse different aspects of AI and the European economy.

How can we get economic growth with AI without the usual harmful effects? Professor Daniel Susskind, in a visionary talk at said that economic growth is driven by tech progress, so in order for Europe to stay in the race, we need

🖇️intellectual property reform
🔬more R&D for more ideas
💡to channel labour capital to ideas
🧑‍💻tech to help generate ideas.

AI is not replacing humans, said Dr. Miceli in a visionary talk at the Brussels Economic Forum. She said "nobody was fired because of AI, it is still a managerial decision". The research lead at The Distributed AI Research Institute (DAIR) added: 'AI will always need the input of humans.'

Chair for Law and Ethics of the Digital Society at European University Viadrina raised the alarm for AI to be environmentally sustainable. Philipp Hacker said we needed more AI data centres, but not at any cost. 'Let’s not over-prioritise data centres on the energy grids.'

07/05/2026

After a short pause, we are now back live with the afternoon of the Brussels Economic Forum.

3️⃣visionary speakers on different aspects of AI and the economy

🗣️panel discussion on geoeconomics of AI

🆚Oxford-style debate on whether AI should be more regulated.

Watch live:
https://link.europa.eu/Gt679d