EESC seeks revisions to Cloud and AI Development Act

The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) has issued an opinion on the European Commission’s Cloud and AI Development Act, calling for stronger EU cloud and AI infrastructure measures, procurement steering, and safeguards for data center expansion.

• The EESC welcomes the goal of strengthening Europe’s cloud and AI ecosystem but asks for targeted revisions on European data center capacity, public procurement, financing, consultation, and environmental/social safeguards.
• It recommends tripling EU data center capacity by 2030 only alongside secured financing, a European sustainable cloud and AI certification, a 25% SME procurement objective, and a six-month deadline for network operators to disclose available connection capacity; it also proposes public consultation, health-risk assessment, and possible community compensation for acceleration zones.
• The opinion was adopted in section on 8/9/2026 and at plenary on 23/9/2026 by 212/0/3; the document is an opinion on COM(2026) 502 final / 2026/0138 (COD), not a first-hand company announcement.