Teresa Ribera, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission for a Clean, Just and Competitive Transition, on 14 September 2026 in Madrid described the latest warnings from leading providers and former employees in the artificial intelligence industry as “absolutely alarming”. At the Nueva Economía Forum she stressed the need to activate mechanisms to address the strong concentration of economic and technological power in a few hands.
Ribera described the widely adopted approach of “allow first, adjust later” as conducive to creativity, but warned that the exceptionally high level of market power currently held by major digital companies called for an active role for the public sector. She defended Europe’s approach to regulating digital services and advocated a artificial intelligence “for and with the people” approach that enables transparency and traceability of the underlying processes.
With regard to data centres Ribera put energy and location issues centre stage. She said she did not want to comment on legislative initiatives by individual Member States but called public debate about requirements for the electricity needs of such facilities “a good idea”. As points of reference, she mentioned discussions about local moratoriums in some US municipalities and a French competition watchdog report from late 2025, which raised concerns about the particular bargaining power of large digital companies in relation to other sectors.
Her remarks come amid extensive plans for data infrastructure in Spain and other EU countries. While governments are encouraging investment in data centres, environmental groups, local authorities and some parts of industry point to risks for energy supply, land use and fair competition. In this context, Ribera presented warnings from the industry itself as a timely reason to examine regulatory tools and political debate.
At the same time, she drew a clear distinction: there is growing evidence from the industry and regulators of concentrated market power and risks to oversight. Ribera’s view that this situation requires a political response should be understood as an attribution. Open questions concern possible new European or national requirements; Ribera announced no specific legislation and referred to the responsibilities of the Member States. How strict requirements for data centres will be, what transparency requirements will apply to AI systems and how competition issues will be addressed remain matters for further discussion between the European Commission, Member States and national authorities.
Editor: Daniel Mayer (Article created with AI assistance).