Macron: Europe Has No Time to Lose in AI Race

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday, November 13, that Europe has all the ingredients needed to compete in artificial intelligence and no time to waste, Sky News Arabia reported [1].

His remarks came as AI competitiveness and technological independence were on the agenda of an informal European Council meeting in Dublin. The Council’s programme focused on reducing critical dependencies, building European capabilities and expanding the use of AI across businesses and public administrations [2].

Research strengths, infrastructure gaps

Leaders’ November 3 briefing credits Europe with strong research, skilled workers and competitive startups, but cites heavy dependence on foreign computing, advanced AI systems, chips, cloud services and software [3].

The briefing calls for substantial public and private investment, particularly in large projects that European investors struggle to finance, alongside sufficient affordable clean energy. It also asks how public-sector demand could help European AI businesses expand [3].

Safety remains part of the agenda

The Dublin programme paired the competitiveness discussion with a session on societal impacts, security and trust, involving Mistral AI chief executive Arthur Mensch and AI researcher Geoffrey Hinton in the respective discussions, according to the Council [2].

Earlier in the week, Macron convened governments, AI developers and researchers for a safety meeting. The French presidency said participants supported independent assessments, common standards for reporting serious incidents and clearer accountability. The commitments included publishing non-sensitive evaluation results and strengthening developers’ internal oversight [4].

Sources: [1] Sky News Arabia, 13 November 2026 · [2] European Council agenda, 13 November 2026 · [3] European Council briefing, 3 November 2026 · [4] Élysée, 9 November 2026.