EU ombudsman probes Commission over Siemens chair’s AI envoy appointment
The European Ombudsman is investigating whether the European Commission identified, assessed and addressed actual or potential conflicts of interest when it appointed Siemens chairman Jim Hagemann Snabe as Ursula von der Leyen’s unpaid AI envoy in June. The role, which runs until the end of March 2027, includes producing a report on AI infrastructure, frontier technologies and industrial adoption of AI. Transparency International, Corporate Europe Observatory and other NGOs complained to the Ombudsman that month, arguing that Snabe’s continuing Siemens post could compromise the envoy’s independence and impartiality. After the Commission did not answer those concerns, Ombudsman Teresa Anjinho opened an inquiry in September and said she would inspect Commission documents and possibly meet relevant staff; the complainants want the appointment revoked.
Corporate Europe Observatory researcher Bram Vranken said Snabe could not navigate the conflicts, citing direct financial interests in data-centre expansion and in weakening AI rules. Siemens had lobbied to exempt products already covered by EU machinery rules from the bloc’s flagship AI law — a change legislators agreed in the summer that is now in the statute. Siemens also belongs to European Tech Creators, a Brussels lobbying group with SAP, ASML, Mistral, Airbus, Ericsson, Nokia and BMW that has met von der Leyen and wants quarterly meetings with her. The Commission has previously said Snabe’s report will be public and open to scrutiny, but it denied access to appointment documents to European Parliament lawmakers and to POLITICO and did not comment by publication.
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