On 12 June 2026, European Commission Executive Vice-President Teresa Ribera, in a speech accepting the Foresight & Innovation International Award at the Politecnico di Torino, argued that Europe must embed fairness, democratic resilience and long-term responsibility into its innovation and climate strategies. She warned against framing policy choices as false trade-offs between competitiveness and social justice, or industry and environmental protection, insisting that sustainable competitiveness requires integrating both.
Ribera outlined a vision in which decarbonisation, digital transformation and geopolitical strength are pursued as a single agenda. She stressed that the EU's competitive future is decarbonised and that clean tech, AI and resource efficiency are not optional sectors but the organising logic of future prosperity. She called for deepening the Single Market, reducing strategic dependencies and managing security risks, while acknowledging that the most ambitious Member States may need to lead, as with the euro.
On artificial intelligence, Ribera noted both opportunity and risk. AI can accelerate materials discovery and optimise energy systems, but its own energy consumption is rising sharply. She pointed to the Commission's Energy and AI roadmap, which treats the two domains as twins. She also raised the need to discuss taxing robots and warned against excessive concentration of digital power, which can shape perceptions and influence democratic decisions.
On climate adaptation, Ribera urged a shift to 'resilience by design', using local stress tests and scenario visualisers to tailor responses to vulnerable communities. She described inaction as costly and unfair, and called for placing scientific evidence at the centre of decision-making.
In foreign policy, Ribera advocated broader use of qualified majority voting in EU foreign relations to ensure a credible European voice, and warned that silence or lack of coordinated action risks pushing Europe out of the global political arena. She defended multilateralism and the UN Charter, and called for innovative reforms to global institutions without abandoning their objectives.
Ribera's speech contained no new legislative proposals or numerical targets, but set out a broad policy orientation: a progressive, integrationist vision that balances innovation with social equity, strengthens EU sovereignty, and insists on democratic and ethical guardrails. The speech was delivered at a moment of geopolitical turmoil and rising climate impacts, and echoed themes from Mario Draghi's 2026 Charlemagne Prize acceptance speech on rediscovering Europe's collective purpose.
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