Dear colleagues,
I wish to invite you to our informal meeting of Heads of State or Government on 13 November. Taoiseach Micheál Martin will be kindly hosting us in Dublin on this occasion.
Our discussions will focus on Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Back in February in Alden Biesen, we agreed that 2026 should be the ‘Year of Competitiveness’. At the European Council in March, we underlined that, to drive growth in Europe, it is critical to channel investment towards the technologies of tomorrow and accelerate innovation. Given the rapid pace of AI development, I believe that a first dedicated discussion, at Leaders’ level, is now needed on the opportunities presented by AI, as well as on its transformative effect on our economies and societies.
Our deliberations in Dublin will be structured as follows.
During the morning session, starting at 9:45, we will have the opportunity to hear from – and exchange with – two external guests.
First, with Arthur Mensch, CEO of Mistral AI, with whom we will focus on Europe’s position in the global AI landscape and the strategic issues Europe faces to strengthen its competitiveness and AI sovereignty. These include reducing critical dependencies, strengthening European AI capabilities, and developing the necessary infrastructure, underpinned by affordable clean energy and by public and private investment at scale, as a condition for strategic autonomy. This will also be an opportunity to discuss how to harness AI’s potential for industrial transformation through wider uptake across the economy.
The second part of the morning session will begin with a presentation of Nobel Prize laureate Professor Geoffrey Hinton. The discussion with Professor Hinton will focus on the wider impact of AI on our societies and on issues related to security and trust. That includes matters related to fundamental rights and the protection of children, democratic processes and our social model, but also the need to address market concentration and security challenges, including, cybersecurity. It will also consider how Europe can contribute to international cooperation and governance on the safety of advanced AI.
The lunch session will then provide an opportunity for an exchange of views at 27 on the way forward for Europe in the area of AI. I plan to conclude by 16:00.
I am sharing with you a Steering Note with further details on the issues for discussion, as well as some suggestions for guiding questions.
Building on our exchanges in Dublin, I expect that we will return to AI in 2027, including in the context of our discussions at the next Leaders’ Retreat in Alden Biesen.
I look forward to seeing you all in Dublin,
António Costa
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