From the Green Deal to Artificial Intelligence: Hagemann Snabe’s influence on the EU Commission

Hagemann Snabe, who is a Danish national and also chaired global shipping giant Maersk in the past, will advise the chairwoman Ursula von der Leyen and the Vice President for Technological Sovereignty, Henna Virkkunenon issues related to industrial artificial intelligence, “in order to maximize the transformative potential of AI across the EU”, as communicated by the Commission. As part of this work, Hagemann Snabe will produce an “evidence-based and future-oriented” report on industrial AI.

Its consultancy role, the Commission specified, will encompass the entire industrial AI ecosystem, with particular attention to infrastructures, including data centers, high performance computing (HPC) and semiconductor supply chains, crucial elements for the diffusion of AI. It will also provide advice on key AI technologies, such as large language models (LLMs), generative AI, cloud computing services and advanced AI software, as well as on the application of AI in different industrial sectors. It will also contribute to strategic considerations on policies to ensure coherence between technological innovation and the EU legislative framework.

Spokesperson, ‘safeguard measures for possible conflicts of interest’

The appointment of one of the top executives of European industry as an advisor to the Commission on the topic of AI has sparked controversy in Brussels due to possible conflicts of interest. The topic also took center stage today at the daily briefing with the spokespersons: “When we appoint a special envoy or a special advisor – explained the spokesperson Balazs Ujvari – we have a duty to ensure that there are no conflicts of interest between the professional activities you carry out outside the Commission and the activities you carry out within the Commission”.

We therefore conduct, continued Ujvari, “acase-by-case analysiswhich we must carry out as a general practice.” Hagemann Snabe, who sits on the boards of directors of several companies, “will effectively suspend his participation on some boards. They will be implemented specific safeguard measuresvery solid and targeted, to ensure, once again, that there are no conflicts of interest in relation to this disappointing situation.”

Without going into too much “detail – added the spokesperson – I can underline that these safeguard measures are targeted, solid and rigorous, but for reasons of protection of personal data, I am not in a position to provide specific information on these measures.” Hagemann Snabe “will be supported by an internal team, which will assist him in preparing the report. Furthermore, it will be able to avail itself of the collaboration of other AI experts from DG Connect, in particular from the AI ​​office”.

Spokesperson, ‘Commission fully supports the IA Act’

Hagemann Snabe, explained Ujvari, was appointed special envoy because he has unique skills, which are anything but easy to find: “The members of the college – he said – evaluate the skills that they potentially cannot find within themselves and for which they must make use of competence of external parties. It is their responsibility to identify these figures and initiate the relevant internal procedures. The final appointment is obviously up to the college and this procedure is well defined in the public regulation on special consultants.”

The spokesperson for Digital, Thomas Regnier, He specified that the Commission “fully supports the AI ​​Act. The co-legislators have reached an agreement on the omnibus law on AI, which is an important provision and remains in force. We fully agree. The appointed special advisor is there for the other part”, i.e. for the application of AI in EU industry. Hagemann Snabe “will not be involved in the legislative or regulatory aspects, but in the second phase, namely innovation”.

Therefore, Hagemann Snabe will advise the Commission on how to best spread and use AI for the benefit of European industry, a matter of crucial importance for the development of the economy of the Old Continent, which has remained far behind in the AI ​​race with the USA and China. But artificial intelligence will not be the only field, and perhaps, despite its relevance, not even the most important, in which the Danish top manager, who has a passion for Greenland having spent part of his childhood in the capital Nuuk, will exert its influence on the guidelines of the von der Leyen Commission.

He was one of the ‘magnificent three’ that von der Leyen met at the time of the lockdowns

Hagemann Snabe, as Adnkronos documented on November 27, 2022 thanks to documents obtained through a regular request for access to documents, is in fact one of the ‘magnificent three‘ top managers with whom the German president consulted on several occasions, at the time of the lockdowns imposed by the Covid pandemic, when she was giving ‘shape’ to the Green Deal, the ecological turning point which was the flagship measure of her first mandate and which today is EU law, despite some corrections in progress.

The president, as shown by the documents, discussed the Green Deal and its practical declinations in nine teleconference meetings that took place between 2020 and 2022, always and only with three among the top European business executives: Carl-Henric Svanbergfor 12 years president of Ab Volvo, the Swedish truck and bus giant (the car branch has been separated since 1999; Svanberg then left the presidency in 2024); the French Benoit PotierCEO and still president of the French Air Liquide for twenty years; and, indeed, Danish Jim Hagemann Snapechairman of the supervisory board of the German conglomerate Siemens. He has an enviable CV, dotted with positions ranging from Danish Maersk to Singapore’s Temasek.

For von der Leyen in 2020-22 a dozen meetings with three captains of industry

All three top managers were part of theErtthe European Round Table of Industrialists, a group that brings together executives from large industries from all over Europe (Italians can be counted on the fingers of one hand, also due to the small size of our companies).

In all, the meetings that took place between von der Leyen and these three captains of industry during that period were at least a dozen, almost a fifth of the over 60 meetings that the president has had since the beginning of her first mandate: out of twelve, on nine occasions the cards expressly reported the Green Deal, Next Generation EU or the ecological transition among the topics discussed. To make a comparison, BusinessEurope, the association that brings together the European Confindustria, had only met von der Leyen twice, in 2019 and 2020, as many as the Bdi, the German equivalent of the Italian Confindustria.

So, after having helped President von der Leyen shape the Green Deal, together with the executives of a Swedish company and a French giant, Hagemann Snabe will now also advise von der Leyen on how to best promote the diffusion of artificial intelligence in the industry of the Old Continent. There are very few businessmen who can boast a similar access in the president’s ear. (by Tommaso Gallavotti)