Siemens supervisory board chair becomes EU Special Envoy for AI - critics warn of conflict of interest between industry and regulation
What it really says
The European Commission has appointed Jim Hagemann Snabe as Special Envoy for Industrial Artificial Intelligence. The 60-year-old Dane, who has chaired the Siemens supervisory board since 2018 and previously served as co-CEO of SAP, will advise Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Henna Virkkunen, the Commissioner responsible for tech sovereignty, on how to accelerate AI adoption in European industry. His mandate covers the entire industrial AI ecosystem with particular focus on AI infrastructure, data centers, high-performance computing, and semiconductor supply chains critical for AI. The appointment runs until end of March 2027. Snabe previously also sat on the boards of Google Cloud's European division and US enterprise AI company C3.ai. As a condition of his new role, Snabe will step down from these mandates and will not take on new advisory or board positions that could call his objectivity into question. The appointment immediately triggered widespread criticism. Green MEP Alexandra Geese criticized that Siemens lobbied very strongly on the European AI Act to exempt industry from stricter rules. Left faction co-chair Martin Schirdewan demanded transparency on how conflicts of interest are excluded. A representative of lobby watchdog Corporate Europe Observatory called the conflict of interest obvious. The EU Commission stated that the law is already in force and the special envoy will not be involved in legislative or regulatory aspects, but only in innovation. Snabe's final advisory report will be publicly available, but the conversations that shape it will not.
Our assessment
The appointment touches on a fundamental problem of AI policy: who advises the regulators, and what interests do they bring? That the EU Commission chooses a leading industry representative to advise on industrial AI is not unusual in itself - practical expertise often comes from practitioners. Snabe undoubtedly brings relevant experience through his positions at Siemens, SAP, Google Cloud, and C3.ai. However, the timing is problematic. The appointment came just weeks after Siemens actively lobbied for a softening of the EU AI Act, and the EU did in fact postpone high-risk AI deadlines in the Omnibus package. The impression that industry interests disproportionately influence EU AI policy is understandable. The Commission emphasizes that Snabe will not make regulatory decisions but only advise on innovation. But this separation is difficult to maintain in practice: recommendations to accelerate AI adoption can have direct effects on regulatory frameworks. For people concerned about AI, the appointment sends an ambivalent signal. On one hand, it shows the EU takes AI development seriously and wants to drive it forward. On the other hand, it fuels doubts about whether consumer protection and worker rights carry equal weight in AI policy as industry interests.
Relevance for Germany
For Germany, this appointment is particularly significant because Siemens is a DAX heavyweight and one of the country's largest employers. Siemens directly benefits from the AI boom: the company supplies data center infrastructure and develops industrial AI solutions. When the supervisory board chair of this company now co-shapes EU AI strategy, the question arises whether the interests of German SMEs, workers, and consumers are adequately represented. The criticism from Greens and Left in the EU Parliament reflects a broader concern in German society: that digitalization is dominated by large corporations while smaller companies and employees are left behind. At the same time, proponents argue that Europe urgently needs more industrial AI competence and Snabe as an experienced industry manager can provide the right impulses. For Germany as a business location, it would be positive if the EU creates more AI-friendly conditions - as long as worker rights and data protection are not sacrificed in the process. The German government has not publicly commented on the appointment.
Fact check
The primary source for the appointment is the official EU Commission press release on digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu from June 3, 2026. Snabe's previous board positions at Google Cloud and C3.ai are confirmed by The Next Web and EU News. Alexandra Geese's criticism regarding Siemens' lobbying on the AI Act is consistently reported by The Next Web, swissinfo.ch, and finanzen.net. Corporate Europe Observatory's statement about the obvious conflict of interest comes from the TNW report. The Commission's claim that Snabe will only advise on innovation, not regulation, is confirmed by EU News. The information that Snabe will step down from Google Cloud and C3.ai mandates comes from the TNW report and is confirmed by EU News. The mandate until end of March 2027 is confirmed by the official Commission release. Siemens' specific lobbying activities on the AI Act are documented by TNW, which highlights the temporal proximity to the Omnibus agreement of May 2026.
Source
- • https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/news/commission-appoints-jim-hagemann-snabe-special-envoy-industrial-artificial-intelligence
- • https://thenextweb.com/news/von-der-leyens-ai-envoy-pick-triggers-conflict-of-interest-backlash-weeks-after-siemens-helped-gut-the-ai-act
- • https://www.eunews.it/en/2026/06/05/the-eu-does-not-view-the-activities-of-the-newly-appointed-special-envoy-for-ai-at-siemens-as-a-problem/
- • https://www.finanzen.net/nachricht/aktien/ki-boom-im-fokus-siemens-aktie-leichter-aufsichtsratvorsitzender-snabe-neuer-ki-berater-von-eu-kommissionspraesidentin-kritik-von-allen-seiten-15731722
- • https://www.swissinfo.ch/ger/neuer-ki-berater-der-eu:-kritik-an-siemens-verbindungen/91538260