🤖 EU AI & Sovereignty Weekly
Thursday, 6 August 2026
This week’s EU AI & Sovereignty update. The AI Act is now in official enforcement for four days. This edition combines the big ongoing stories (AI Act enforcement, AI Gigafactories, Scaleup Europe Fund) with fresh items: the Commission’s transparency guidelines, the €890 million DMA fine for Google, the preliminary findings against TikTok, the new Cyber Resilience Act guidance, the GenAI pilots for public administrations and the EUNOMIA.AI project.
wetgeving
🔥 HOOG
AI Act enforcement and transparency rules in force since 2 August
Since 2 August, the Commission’s AI Office and national authorities enforce the AI Act, and the new transparency rules apply: chatbots must disclose they are AI, deepfakes must be labelled and AI-generated content must carry machine-readable markings. The first complaints and whistleblower tools are operational, and the first concrete enforcement actions are expected in the coming weeks. This is the defining story of the European AI legal framework this autumn.
Commissie
📌 MEDIUM
Commission publishes guidelines on transparency obligations for AI providers and deployers
The Commission has published guidelines to help providers and deployers of AI systems meet the AI Act transparency obligations that applied from 2 August. The guidelines clarify who must comply with the obligations for interactive AI systems and for marking and labelling AI-generated content. Providers must design AI systems so users are informed when they interact directly with AI and add machine-readable markings; deployers must inform people when exposed to deepfakes, AI-generated content on public-interest matters without human oversight, and emotion recognition or biometric categorisation.
investeringen
🔥 HOOG
EU launches AI Gigafactories call — up to €30 billion investment
The EU has launched a call for up to seven AI Gigafactories, backed by up to €10 billion in EU and national funds and targeting at least €20 billion in private investment. Together with the network of 19 AI Factories, this must expand Europe’s compute capacity for training and inference of frontier AI models and deliver strategic autonomy. It is the most important sovereignty file for Europe’s computing power to watch in the coming weeks.
Commissie
🔥 HOOG
Commission fines Google €890 million for DMA breaches
The Commission adopted two decisions finding Google in breach of the Digital Markets Act: self-preferencing its own services in Google Search and restricting businesses from steering consumers to alternative, often cheaper purchase channels. Google faces fines of €460 million and €430 million respectively. The Commission found Google shows its own services — such as shopping, hotels, transport and sports — more prominently than those of third parties, and prevents app developers from freely informing customers about cheaper alternatives outside Google Play.
wetgeving
📌 MEDIUM
Commission sends TikTok preliminary findings over DSA breach on minors’ safety
The Commission has sent TikTok preliminary findings that accounts of minors do not meet the safety standards of the Digital Services Act. Minors can set their account to ‘public’, allowing any user — even without an account — to see their content, and content from 16-17 year olds can be recommended to everyone via the For You Feed. The Commission says TikTok must change the default settings of minors’ public accounts so content is only visible to accepted users by default, and stop recommending minors’ content via the For You Feed.
technology
📌 MEDIUM
Commission publishes new guidance for implementing the Cyber Resilience Act
The Commission has published new guidance to help manufacturers, developers and businesses of all sizes apply the Cyber Resilience Act, with attention to micro and small enterprises. The guide clarifies which products fall under the law, what constitutes a substantial modification, how support periods and reporting obligations should be understood, and how risk assessments should be carried out. VP Virkkunen stressed that recent developments in frontier AI models with cybersecurity capabilities make a fast and correct implementation of the law even more urgent; the reporting obligations apply from 11 September 2026.
lidstaten
📌 MEDIUM
New GenAI pilots for public administrations kick off
Three new pilot projects supporting the use of generative AI in public administrations — FLOODS & DROUGHTS, EUNOMIA.AI and EuropAI — officially started on 1 July 2026 with signed grant agreements. Selected under the Digital Europe Programme call ‘GenAI for the public administrations’, these projects pilot trustworthy European GenAI solutions for concrete needs of governments and citizens. The pilots contribute to the Apply AI Strategy and must show how GenAI can improve decision-making, optimise processes and simplify bureaucracy, with solutions that are scalable and reusable for other European public services.
technology
📌 MEDIUM
EUNOMIA.AI — trustworthy GenAI for efficient and accessible public services
The 36-month EUNOMIA.AI project brings together 33 organisations from 13 EU member states and Norway to develop and test trustworthy, human-centred and compliant GenAI solutions for public services. Through real-world pilots, the project focuses on administrative simplification, rules-as-code, virtual assistance for citizens and officials, and automation of document and data processes. The project uses and develops European open-source AI models, supported by sovereign European infrastructure, and produces reusable blueprints and governance models for other public services.
investeringen
📌 MEDIUM
Commission finalises Scaleup Europe Fund — €5 billion for European scaleups
The Commission has taken the final legal steps to launch the Scaleup Europe Fund, aimed at helping European scaleups grow faster and compete globally, with an initial target size of €5 billion. The fund is a core instrument in the strategy to financially support European ‘champions’ — also in AI and deep tech — and thus become less dependent on foreign investors. It is a concrete financing pillar of the European drive for technological sovereignty.
Commissie
📌 MEDIUM
Commission accepts X’s action plan to comply with the DSA
The Commission has accepted X’s action plan to comply with the transparency obligations and researchers’ access to data under the Digital Services Act. X is improving its advertising repository with better search functions and faster response times, publishing more information about ads and offering access via an API, and giving eligible researchers effective access to public data. An independent external audit must assess the changes; however, the Board for Digital Services considered the measures only partially adequate and the audit measures insufficient to fully address the breaches.
📈 Key Trends
- • The AI Act is now being enforced for real — expect concrete actions from the AI Office and national authorities in the coming weeks as complaints and whistleblower tools go live.
- • The AI Gigafactories call (up to seven factories) is the key sovereignty file for Europe’s computing power, aiming to unlock at least €30 billion.
- • Digital enforcement is stepping up sharply — the €890 million DMA fine for Google and preliminary DSA findings against TikTok show the Commission is now using its full powers.
- • GenAI is moving into the public sector: the new pilots (FLOODS & DROUGHTS, EUNOMIA.AI, EuropAI) and the EUNOMIA.AI project aim to make European public services more efficient with sovereign, open-source models.
- • In September, the Cyber Resilience Act reporting obligations take effect (11 September) and two taskforces of the Code of Practice on AI transparency will launch; the Scaleup Europe Fund is expected to start investing shortly after the summer.
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