European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen made the case for using artificial intelligence to improve the EU executive’s working methods and ease its procedures for businesses and citizens at a news conference in Brussels on 26 October 2026, Anadolu Agency reported. She spoke alongside Piotr Serafin, the European Commissioner for Budget, Anti-Fraud and Public Administration, and Catherine Day, chair of the High-Level Group on the Future of the Commission’s Civil Service.
Key points
- Von der Leyen said AI could help the commission improve its processes and make dealing with the EU less burdensome.
- She called for staff to have the skills and tools to use AI, alongside investment in talent and simpler services.
- She said simpler procedures and better cooperation between departments would help staff focus their efforts. Separately, she prioritised tangible results from public spending.
Von der Leyen calls for staff AI skills
“Artificial intelligence offers new ways to work, new ways to improve processes, and find less burdensome ways to make the European Union work for business and citizens,” von der Leyen said. Her examples covered work inside the commission as well as the experience of people and businesses using its services. She placed the ability of staff to use the technology alongside the prospect of changing the processes in which they work.
Von der Leyen said the commission must give its staff the skills and tools needed to make the best use of AI. She also called for developing talent, simplifying services and using technology better. Those were presented together as parts of an administrative effort: equipping colleagues to use new tools, while changing the services those colleagues help deliver.
The emphasis on staff matters for the scope of her remarks. Von der Leyen spoke about AI as one means of improving the commission’s work, alongside changes to its procedures and organisation.
Commission procedures and every euro count
Von der Leyen also called for simpler procedures, clearer structures and better cooperation between departments. She said those changes would let commission staff concentrate on the areas where their work could make the greatest difference. The administrative programme she described therefore extended beyond technology: it concerned how responsibilities are organised and how staff work across the executive.
She identified making “every euro count” as the commission’s second priority. Public expenditure should produce added value and tangible results, she said, particularly while Europeans face cost-of-living pressures, Anadolu Agency reported. That put the proposed improvements to working methods alongside a test for spending: what the public receives from the money used.
Von der Leyen said the commission needed to act “effectively and quickly”. She tied that aim to changes in procedures, structures and cooperation across departments, which she said would allow colleagues to direct their efforts where they could have the greatest effect. Her stated ambition was to deliver “the best possible public service for our European citizens”.
.jpg){kind=link}