On 9 May, Europeans celebrate Europe Day. We commemorate the historical day (9 May 1950) when Robert Schuman, French minister of foreign affairs, and Konrad Adenauer, German chancellor, surprised the world with a big idea: the Schuman Declaration.
This big idea, developed by Jean Monnet, with the assistance of a little team at his house in Houjarray, forty-five kilometers west of Paris (today a museum), was as simple as it was revolutionary: France and Germany would not compete anymore for the coal and steel they so desperately needed to reconstruct their economies after having fought each other during the Second World War. Instead, they would delegate sovereignty to a supranational entity, the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) (1951), that would ensure transparency and shared control to prevent conflict.
The ECSC became the nucleus of the European Communities (1957) that later became the European Union (1992) and the rest is history. The point I would like to make here is that big ideas, such as the one resulting from the genius mind of Jean Monnet, are often underestimated. We tend to consider them weak in a practical sense because they are abstract and immaterial. The truth, in fact, is that ideas (and big ideas in particular) are as important for the human world as the material things we can touch or eat.
As Belfast-born journalist James Harkin argues often in his talks, big ideas that unite people in a shared goal are precious. Big ideas such as “liberté, egalité et fraternité” led to the French Revolution, and the big idea of the British economist and social reformer William Beveridge that economic and social progress could and should go hand in hand led to the welfare state.
The European Union was born from a big idea, so it is only normal that Europe has given birth to other big ideas that unite people behind shared goals. This was the case of the big idea of data protection, formed in the nineties and the first decade of the 21st century. This concept, enshrined in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, led to the creation of my institution, the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) in 2004, and the adoption of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in 2016.
More recently, building on the lessons learnt from the GDPR, the European Union has given birth to another big idea: a set of rules for artificial intelligence to ensure it benefits all of humanity and operates safely and ethically. Thanks to the work of the High-Level Expert Group on AI (HLEG) set up by the European Commission that led to the Ethics Guidelines for Trustworthy AI (2019), and thanks to the work of the Special Committee on AI (AIDA) set up by the European Parliament (2020), the European Union adopted the AI Act in 2024. With its risk-based approach, this was the first law in the world that prohibits the most harmful AI systems – those that pose an unacceptable risk to citizens’ health, safety and fundamental rights – and set binding requirements, in particular for high-risk systems, on safety, transparency, human oversight and the protection of fundamental rights. The majority of AI systems are considered to be minimal risk and are thus outside the scope of the regulation.
The European Union is not alone in this human endeavor, of course. Other like-minded countries and prestigious stakeholders are united around this big idea too and, as a supervising AI authority, the EDPS is part of that exchange. Apart from our extensive knowledge sharing with the EU market surveillance authorities under the AI Act, through the AI Board and the administrative cooperation group (ADCO), we also work with other competent authorities from around the globe. The EDPS is a member of the UNESCO Global Network of AI Supervising Authorities (GNAIS), and is involved in the development of risk and impact assessment of AI systems from the point of view of human rights, democracy and the rule of law (HUDERIA) in the framework of the Council of Europe. We have also been closely following the exchanges and dialogues on AI in the OECD and the International Association for Safe and Ethical AI (IASEAI).
The EDPS, as the AI Supervisor under the AI Act for EU institutions, agencies and bodies, is supporting big ideas and international initiatives. So, too, do the one hundred members of the Network of AI Act correspondents in the EU institutions set up by the EDPS in 2024.
This Network was established to facilitate the sharing of know-how and practical experiences among the EU institutions, agencies and bodies, with the aim to ensure the use and development of safe and trustworthy AI systems. Through this Network, the EDPS carried out the first mapping of AI systems currently used in the EU public administration that fall under the risk categories of the AI Act. Adding to its AI-related initiatives, the EDPS launched earlier this year a pilot project for a regulatory sandbox, offering a controlled environment for the development, testing and validation of AI systems, in compliance with the AI Act. The selected project concerns a job matching application, developed by the European Commission, expected to have wide and significant impact on candidates for EU public administration selection procedures.
The EDPS is leading by example and, together with the rest of EU institutions, bodies and agencies, it is aiming for the right balance between the efficiency of AI systems and the safeguarding of fundamental rights.
In celebrating Europe, we also celebrate our shared commitment to safe and ethical AI. So, let’s celebrate Europe Day and continue uniting forces in Europe and beyond so that artificial intelligence benefits all of humanity.