The European Commission has appointed Jim Hagemann Snabe, chairman of the Siemens supervisory board, as a special envoy for industrial artificial intelligence. Snabe, 60, will advise Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and tech sovereignty chief Henna Virkkunen on accelerating AI adoption across European industries until his mandate concludes on 31 March 2027.

The appointment has drawn significant backlash due to the timing, occurring only weeks after Siemens lobbied for a reduction in the scope of the EU AI Act. On 7 May 2026, the Council of the EU and the European Parliament finalized the Digital Omnibus, which delayed high-risk AI obligations by 16 months, pushing the deadline from August 2026 to December 2027. Notably, the deal introduced an exemption for industrial AI used in machinery, moving oversight from the AI Act to separate machinery regulations unless health and safety risks are present. German officials, including Chancellor Friedrich Merz, spearheaded this exemption alongside Siemens executives.

Critics, including Dutch Green lawmaker Kim van Sparrentak, argue that the appointment grants policy-shaping influence to the same industry stakeholders that actively weakened the regulatory framework. Concerns center on Snabe’s professional history, which includes board roles at Google Cloud and C3.ai. Although the Commission stated it performed a conflict-of-interest assessment and Snabe will suspend these board memberships, the methodologies and findings of the assessment remain undisclosed.

The role is unpaid and intended to bridge the gap between regulatory goals and industrial deployment. This move aligns with the Commission’s broader technology sovereignty agenda, which encompasses the Cloud and AI Development Act and the Chips Act 2.0. The appointment signals a shift in focus toward industrial competitiveness within the EU tech policy landscape.

The European Commission has appointed Jim Hagemann Snabe, chairman of the Siemens supervisory board, as a special envoy for industrial artificial intelligence. Snabe, 60, will advise Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and tech sovereignty chief Henna Virkkunen on accelerating AI adoption across European industries until his mandate concludes on 31 March 2027.

The appointment has drawn significant backlash due to the timing, occurring only weeks after Siemens lobbied for a reduction in the scope of the EU AI Act. On 7 May 2026, the Council of the EU and the European Parliament finalized the Digital Omnibus, which delayed high-risk AI obligations by 16 months, pushing the deadline from August 2026 to December 2027. Notably, the deal introduced an exemption for industrial AI used in machinery, moving oversight from the AI Act to separate machinery regulations unless health and safety risks are present. German officials, including Chancellor Friedrich Merz, spearheaded this exemption alongside Siemens executives.

Critics, including Dutch Green lawmaker Kim van Sparrentak, argue that the appointment grants policy-shaping influence to the same industry stakeholders that actively weakened the regulatory framework. Concerns center on Snabe’s professional history, which includes board roles at Google Cloud and C3.ai. Although the Commission stated it performed a conflict-of-interest assessment and Snabe will suspend these board memberships, the methodologies and findings of the assessment remain undisclosed.

The role is unpaid and intended to bridge the gap between regulatory goals and industrial deployment. This move aligns with the Commission’s broader technology sovereignty agenda, which encompasses the Cloud and AI Development Act and the Chips Act 2.0. The appointment signals a shift in focus toward industrial competitiveness within the EU tech policy landscape.