Pierre Larouche, "AI Governance and Geopolitics", Centre of Regulation in Europe, May 2026, 36 pages
Résumé en anglais:
This CERRE Issue Paper by Research Fellow Pierre Larouche develops an analytical framework for mapping the AI governance postures of the main geopolitical actors. It then assesses the strategic options available to the EU. It argues that the US, at least at the federal level, is moving closer to China’s approach, where state objectives take precedence across the AI technology stack. This leaves other jurisdictions, including the EU, with constraints: they face concentrated private power largely in foreign hands and cannot effectively match the ambitions of the two emerging digital empires.
The paper finds that the EU’s current policy trajectory, centred on the AI Act and complementary instruments such as competition law and the DMA, reflects a distinct approach, and that the EU does not need to attempt to replicate the governance model pursued by Washington and Beijing. However, realising the potential of that approach requires integrating the two levers of governance — state control through the AIA and associated instruments, and the promotion of more dispersed private power through competition law and the enforcement of the DMA — into a coherent policy framework. The paper identifies the conditions under which such integration could strengthen the EU’s position, both as a credible partner for like-minded jurisdictions and as a governance model that serves Europe’s broader economic and societal goals.