Canadian intern of Chinese origin appeals Belgian pre-trial detention regarding spy charge

Copyright AP

By Angela Skujins

Published on 30/07/2026 - EURONEWS

A Canadian national of Chinese origin has lodged an appeal against one-month pre-trial detention after being arrested last week on suspicion of spying for a third country while serving as an intern at a major NATO hub in Belgium.

A Canadian national of Chinese origin under investigation for allegedly conducting espionage activities while interning at a strategic North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) centre in southern Belgium has appealed a one-month pretrial detention order, Belgium's Federal Prosecutor's Office said on Thursday.

The appeal was lodged with the Indictments Chamber, which must rule on the matter within 15 days, the prosecutor's office added.

The prosecutor's office said on Tuesday that the suspect would remain in pretrial detention. Under Belgian law, the deadline to appeal the detention order expired on Wednesday afternoon.

The individual is being investigated for suspicion of carrying out espionage activities for a third country and being a member of a criminal organisation while interning at the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) in the Belgian city of Mons

The news agency Reuters, citing a security source, reported that the individual is a woman in her 30s identified as Claire Z who worked in the IT department at SHAPE.

Her apartment in Mons and office at SHAPE were raided by Charleroi police on Thursday, with the individual arrested on Friday.

The legal developments, including Tuesday's decision to place the suspect in one-month pretrial detention, underscore the seriousness of the allegations while raising questions about security procedures at NATO.

SHAPE is considered the Alliance's strategic military headquarters and the base of Allied Command Operations. It is where military officials plan and coordinate the Alliance’s operations.

A spokesperson from SHAPE told Euronews Belgium is leading the charge in the investigation.

 

EU's competition chief Ribera slams climate deniers as fires rage: 'They are lying'

Euronews

By Marta Pacheco

Published on 30/07/2026 - 

In her interview with Euronews, Ribera took aim at 'dangerous and stupid' European politicians who cast doubt on climate science and dismiss environmental policies as ideological rather than grounded in evidence.

European Commission Executive Vice-President Teresa Ribera launched a fierce attack against climate deniers, accusing politicians who dismiss the link between global warming and Europe's devastating wildfires of "lying to people" and putting lives at risk.

"We have lots of new parliamentarians in the European Parliament, political families and national politicians who are very vocal against climate science and climate action. This is dangerous, they are lying to people," Ribera told Euronews in an exclusive interview.

As deadly wildfires rage across Spain, France and Greece, Ribera warned that climate scepticism is undermining Europe's ability to prepare for increasingly destructive disasters. Speaking from Madrid, which has been badly impacted, she compared denying the role of climate change in wildfires to giving alcohol to alcoholics.

"The closest example would be someone in public office saying you can drink as much whiskey as you want and then drive because road accidents have nothing to do with alcohol, only with the condition of the road or the car," she said. "This is stupid."

Ribera dismissed claims that the fires are simply part of Europe's season cycle, arguing instead that climate change is creating "new types of wildfires" that are more intense and increasingly threaten communities, infrastructure, wildlife and human lives.

"This is just dangerous," she told Euronews. More than 10,000 excess deaths were recorded across Europe during late June's extreme heatwaves.

The Spanish commissioner, who oversees the EU's clean, just and competitive transition, made the remarks at a politically sensitive moment in Brussels.

Over the past year, the EU's political focus has shifted away from its once ambitious climate legislation — the hallmark of Ursula von der Leyen's first-term European Green Deal — towards competitiveness, industrial policy and cutting red tape for companies.

Several governments and political groups have urged Brussels to ease environmental rules even further, arguing it is the only way to remain competitive against the United States and China.

Some of the measures include watering down the bloc’s methane rules, which would require oil and gas producers to reduce and monitor their emissions, as well as the nature restoration law, which is seen as crucial for protecting forests and peatlands.

Ribera, however, warned against rolling back the bloc's climate agenda.

Europe cannot respond to one of its worst wildfire seasons by dismantling the very policies designed to reduce climate risks, she argued. While regulation can be simplified, she said, abandoning the foundations of the Green Deal would be a mistake.

"Providing the right answer is not just getting rid of everything that has been building these green roots to keep on building prosperity," Ribera said.

Fire crews tackle blaze close to major nuclear power sites in UK

Copyright AP Photo

By Nathan Rennolds

Published on 30/07/2026 - EURONEWS

A spokesperson for energy company EDF told Euronews that the fire "is not currently affecting operations at Sizewell B power station" but that the company was "continuing to monitor the situation."

Firefighters are continuing to battle a large wildfire close to three major nuclear power sites in the UK county of Suffolk.

The blaze broke out on Wednesday on Dunwich Heath on the UK's east coast before it spread quickly southwest. It is currently covering around 100 hectares.

A spokesperson for energy company EDF told Euronews that the fire "is not currently affecting operations at Sizewell B power station" but that the company was "continuing to monitor the situation."

"We are not on high alert," they added.

Sizewell B has a well-rehearsed emergency plan ready to go for emergency scenarios, including a fire on its site.

In a post on its official X account, the planned Sizewell C nuclear station said it was also "closely monitoring the fire at Dunwich Heath" but that it "currently poses a low risk to Sizewell C due to its distance from the site and the watercourses in between."

"Our sites and offices remain open and operating as normal," the post reads. "We are continuously assessing smoke conditions and any impacts on the road network to help keep people safe and ensure emergency services have priority access."

Residents and visitors have been told to avoid the area around the fire, with some locals evacuated from their homes to a rest centre.

Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service has deployed 18 fire engines as well as specialist equipment such as drones and 4x4 quad bikes to tackle the flames, amid what it called "challenging conditions." Officers from Suffolk Police are also supporting fire crews at the scene.

Angela Rayner, the UK Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, thanked firefighters for their work and said the government was "ready to offer our support."

"My thoughts are with people who have been affected by the Suffolk wildfire," she added in a social media post.

Europe's wildfire battle

It comes amid a series of wildfires that have ravaged parts of Europe this month.

In southwestern France, a devastating blaze has burned through around 42,000 hectares over the last week, while Spain's Madrid region has also been hit hard.

Fires have also affected parts of Italy, Greece, Portugal and Turkey.

Southern Europe is dealing with fewer blazes but ‘greater’ wildfire risk. Is there a solution?

Copyright Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved

By Liam Gilliver

Published on 30/07/2026 - EURONEWS

A major new study warns that Portugal, Spain, France, Italy and Greece are experiencing more ‘fire-promoting’ weather.

Scientists have sounded the alarm over “major intensification” of fire-promoting weather in southern Europe, as large swathes of the continent continue to burn.

Uncontained blazes have swept across Spain and France in recent weeks, scorching more than 120,000 hectares across the two countries, and forcing more than 300,000 people to abandon their homes.

It’s the biggest evacuation effort since World War II, and means the EU is bound for its worst wildfire season on record.

While emergency response systems have helped control some of the spread, a fire four times the size of Paris threatened to surge again in southwest France yesterday (29 July), while three firefighters were killed on the Greek island of Crete.

The bloc’s firefighting capacity is struggling to keep pace with the increasing intensity of the fires, which have become so powerful they have triggered their own thunderstorm.

As Europe braces for yet another heatwave, fears of flare-ups remain high. Now, new research lifts the lid on how Europe is becoming increasingly exposed to deadly wildfires.

What’s behind Europe’s increased wildfire risk?

A new study, published today in the journal Scientific Reports, has analysed national wildfire records from Portugal, Spain, France, Italy and Greece alongside weather and climate data between 1981 and 2025.

Researchers found that in parts of France and Spain, the intensity of fire-promoting weather (hot, dry and windy conditions) had increased by up to 50 per cent between 2016 and 2025 compared with 1981 to 2010.

The number of days with “highly fire-promoting conditions” also increased from fewer than 10 days per summer in 1981 to 2010 to around 25 days over the last decade in parts of each country studied.

The report authors say that the frequency of fire-promoting weather reflects an increase in warm, dry days and is “linked to large-scale climate patterns” including the naturally occurring El Niño.

“Smaller air-pressure differences across the North Atlantic coincided with an increase in fire-promoting weather in parts of Greece, Italy, Corsica and Spain,” the report states.

“Sea-surface-temperature anomalies in the tropical Pacific, associated with El Niño, preceded fire-promoting weather in parts of northwestern Iberia, in Sicily, and southern Greece.”

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It is worth noting that most El Niño events have temporarily increased global average temperatures by around 0.2℃. This is not as significant as human-made climate change, caused by the burning of fossil fuels, which has pushed the global surface temperature up by approximately 1.3 - 1.5℃ compared to pre-industrial levels.

According to the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), Europe is the fastest-warming continent on the planet, with temperatures rising more than twice as fast as the global average.

An attribution analysis from World Weather Attribution (WWA) also found that Europe’s recent June heatwave – which saw temperatures climb to 40℃ in several countries – would have been “virtually impossible” as recently as 1976 – just 50 years ago.

Despite this, the annual number of wildfires during the past 10 years was around 40 per cent lower than the 1981 to 2010 period across the five countries – suggesting that fire management efforts are paying off, including improved training for fire brigades and better public awareness campaigns.

How Europe can lower its wildfire risk

Unless climate change is tackled, by weaning off fossil fuels and transitioning to clean energy, global temperatures will continue to rise – increasing the risk of extreme weather that fuels wildfires.

In the interim, there are many wildfire management practices that can help reduce the risk. This includes ‘prescribed burns’, which involve intentionally setting fire to a designated area of land under monitored weather conditions.

They are often used to clear out dead leaves and small trees, which can in turn lower the risk of larger wildfires that often break out in the summer. A 2025 study from Stanford University found that prescribed burns can reduce the severity of subsequent wildfires by an average of 16 per cent and net smoke pollution by an average of 14 per cent.

According to the World Wildlife Foundation (WWF), ensuring “sustainable land use management” can also help control deadly infernos – particularly in areas that are already high wildfire risk.

“It is important to regulate land-use change and update zoning guidance to ensure that development does not exacerbate fire risk,” the organisation states.

“The impacts of fires do not stop when they are put out, as floods and soil erosion can follow. After a fire, reduce the risk of further damage by ensuring that burned land is rehabilitated with vegetation adaptable to a changing climate.”

Experts from environmental organisations including WWF and Wetlands International Europe are also calling for the restoration of landscapes and healthy water systems to tackle drought and wildfires.

Wildfire risk can heighten after just a few days of scorching temperatures, as moisture evaporates from grass, shrubs and other vegetation. This makes them easier to ignite and harder to extinguish.

But wetlands and rivers absorb, store and slowly release water – making them natural fire breaks. However, depleting water levels and degradation are dwindling their ability to stop the spread of blazes.

Re-introducing species that have been proven to stop wildfire damage is also worth considering. Beavers, for example, have been described as natural firefighters due to their dam-building activity which has been found to halt the spread of blazes by keeping vegetation green during droughts.

Wildfires near Bordeaux bring more troubles to France’s struggling wine industry

Copyright The Associated Press. All rights reserved

By Gael Camba

Published on 30/07/2026 - EURONEWS

A massive wildfire has been raging across the Bordeaux region for almost a week now, impacting the tourist season. These forest fires are emitting toxic smoke with harmful effects on all living beings, including the vineyards.

Wildfires have already decimated 42,000 hectares in Bordeaux's Gironde region. Even though vineyards are still safe from the blaze, winegrowers fear the grapes might take on a 'smoke taint' if fumes from the fires get to the vines.

Grapes are still in their veraison period; from a small green marble, they are starting to grow into bigger burgundy or golden coloured fruit. It's a decisive phase of the grape's maturation when smoke can impact the wine's aroma.

Some wines naturally have ash scents from other sources, but if this flavour impedes the fruity aromas, winegrowers can decide to downgrade their harvest or sell it in bulk to distillers for the alcohol.

"If we’d been closer to the grape harvest, which is due to start in three weeks, it could have been far more serious," says to French Figaro newspaper Séverine Bonnie from château Malartic-Lagravière, just 20 kilometres away from the flames.

Grapes hang in a vineyard on the Grand Verdus wine estate in Sadirac, southwestern France's Bordeaux region. Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved

At that moment of the harvest, smoke can seriously impregnate the grapes, although not all vineyards exposed to the smoke are necessarily affected. Strong winds, time of exposure to smoke and weather conditions can change how the grapes taste.

"In Bordeaux, not only are we still at the veraison stage, but we can also hope for thunderstorms to wash away any berries that may have been affected," says to French Figaro newspaper Édouard Moueix, owner of multiple châteaux in the Bordeaux region.

A smell of "economic apocalypse"

Wildfires that have burned an area four times the size of Paris and driven 220,000 people from homes and some of the region’s tourist attractions promise to sting France’s already squeezed economy.

"It’s a physical apocalypse when you see all these sites where there’s nothing left aside from burnt homes and forests, and then there’s the economic apocalypse," said Patrick Seguin, president of the regional chamber of commerce, his voice choking with emotion.

It's going to be a stab in the back for what remains of our economy

 Patrick Seguin 

President of the regional chamber of commerce in the Bordeaux region

Edouard Le Grix de la Salle is among entrepreneurs bracing for pain. French government appeals for people to avoid the region are causing consternation.

"It’s incredible that they’ve said such a thing, especially when wine tourism is becoming more and more important," Le Grix de la Salle said.

Bordeaux’s legendary wine has seen consumption plunge as young people turn to other beverages and competition from vineyards abroad has grown. U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs have given winemakers — and much of the global economy — an added hangover.

An industry already in crisis

"The wine business has been in crisis for several years now, and it’s worsening with the geopolitical problems, the now widespread problems of inflation and the fact that wine is falling out of fashion among younger people," Le Grix de la Salle said.

"Tourism was really the only dynamic part of the business that was still growing, both for us and, more generally, for Bordeaux wines," he said. "And now this comes along as a brake."

His family’s Grand Verdus wine estate is roughly 35 kilometres from the fires that have raged since last week on the other side of the Garonne River that runs through Bordeaux. The fires have hit only a small percentage of the Gironde region, but the mark on its reputation is sizable.

"How did they not think about protecting that sector? And the cultural sector, too. There’s so much to visit in Bordeaux. There are so many museums, there are châteaux. It’s unbelievable," Le Grix de la Salle said.

The region in southwest France is replete with vacation spots for tourists lured by soft-sand beaches, winemaking châteaux, some of France’s largest pine forests and the historic city of Bordeaux, a UNESCO World Heritage site. The oyster-rich Arcachon Bay draws foodies. But the fire and evacuations have emptied some prime spots.

The chamber of commerce says 39,000 businesses have been affected in the region that’s a hub of defence and aerospace industries, including Airbus, Dassault and Thales.

Even before the fires, the chamber of commerce said rising energy costs were squeezing profits. Some 94% of businesses responding to a poll of regional enterprises in mid-July said they face difficulties.

Industrial chicken farms are fuelling the spread of diarrhoea-causing bacteria, study finds

Copyright AP Photo/Terry Chea

By Marta Iraola Iribarren

Published on 29/07/2026 - EURONEWS

Industrial chicken farms are boosting the spread of gastroenteritis-causing bacteria, as the global chicken population has surged to roughly 31 billion birds, new research shows.

Industrial poultry farming has led to a more than 100-fold increase in the spread of Campylobacter, the most common bacterial cause of gastroenteritis in the world, according to a new study by the University of Oxford.

Intensive poultry farming has transformed global bird populations, concentrating billions of chickens into dense industrial systems that fundamentally reshape ecological space, researchers at Ineos Oxford Institute for Antimicrobial Research said, after analysing around 2,800 bacterial genomes from chickens and wild birds in 30 countries between 1979 and 2024.

Birds are significant pathogen reservoirs and these changes can have important consequences for the spread of infectious diseases jumping from animals to humans.

The number of chickens has risen sevenfold since the 1960s to roughly 31 billion birds today, the authors said, increasing the risk of environmental spillover of different diseases into the human food chain.

“Industrial farming has created one of the largest animal habitats on the planet. Our findings provide new evidence that human-driven environmental change can increase the spread of infectious diseases,” said Sam Sheppard, senior author of the study.

As chicken populations have grown, bacteria that were once largely confined to wild birds have gained far more opportunities to enter poultry flocks, spread and become established, he added.

“Understanding these evolutionary consequences is essential if we are to reduce future risks from zoonotic disease and antimicrobial resistance.”

Related

• Foodborne illnesses grown antibiotic resistant across Europe, agencies warn

Campylobacter is one of the four key global causes of diarrhoeal diseases, according to the World Health Organization. Infections are generally mild, but can be fatal among very young children, the elderly, and immunosuppressed individuals.

The most common symptoms of Campylobacter infections include diarrhoea, abdominal pain, fever, headache, nausea and vomiting; symptoms typically last between three and six days.

Poultry are the foremost reservoir for human infection, with an estimated 60% to 80% of cases attributable to isolates originating in chickens, the study noted.

“As Campylobacter strains adapt to life in poultry, they can acquire traits that help them survive in challenging environments, including traits linked to antimicrobial resistance,” said Oakem Kyne, the study’s first author at the University of Oxford.

Antimicrobial resistance is a growing public health concern, as it threatens the effectiveness of current treatments.

“Understanding how farming practices influence bacterial evolution is an important step towards reducing the burden of foodborne disease,” added Kyne.

 EU opens call for seven 'gigafactories' to train next-generation AI technologies

By Luca Bertuzzi

Published on 30/07/2026 - EURONEWS

With concerns about digital dependency growing fast, the European Commission is pursuing "sovereign" AI infrastructure to become operational by mid-2028.

The European Commission has launched a call for tenders to publicly finance up to seven AI gigafactories in Europe, as Brussels races to build sovereign infrastructure to train advanced AI models and catch up with global tech competitors.

AI gigafactories are large-scale computing facilities equipped with state-of-the-art, highly specialised chips designed to train the next generation of AI technologies – notably the most advanced large language models, which require crunching trillions of data points.

The move forms part of a broader tech sovereignty push to cut the EU's dependence on foreign suppliers of cloud services and chips.

The global race to build ever more powerful models, with their promise of breakthroughs in both economic and military terms, has triggered a parallel scramble to build the infrastructure underpinning them. Massive data centre projects are already well underway in the US and China.

In response, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced a plan to build AI gigafactories in Europe at the AI Action Summit in Paris in February 2025, with the ambition of replicating the success of the CERN laboratory in Geneva.

Since then, the initiative has drawn considerable interest from industry, with 76 potential consortia expressing preliminary interest in submitting a project proposal.

To cater to that appetite from the private sector while ensuring a reasonable geographical spread of infrastructure, the Commission has expanded its initial scope from four or five gigafactories to up to seven.

At the same time, the Commission has drawn criticism for repeatedly delaying the initiative, slowing Europe to a pace that undermines its own rhetoric about the urgency of catching up with the US and China.

The procurement process has already been split into two consecutive phases, with a staggered approach designed to build up capacity gradually over the next six and a half years.

The phasing of the approach is largely down to a shortage of available funding. Having initially appeared committed to a €20 billion fund for the gigafactories, the Commission has gradually scaled back its financial commitments.

The public funding share of the project was reduced to roughly a third of the overall investment, with the remaining two-thirds to come from the private sector – and of the EU's third, only half will be provided by Brussels, with the remainder issued by supporting EU countries.

As a result, Brussels is set to contribute roughly €5 billion, matched by another €5 billion from European governments, alongside around €20 billion in private investment.

Under the current budget, however, Brussels can only commit €1 billion, with the rest expected to come from the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) – itself still a moving target, as it remains the subject of intense negotiations among member states.

"We cannot pre-empt the decisions about the next MFF. We gave you our best estimate of how much money we would have from the next MFF to be able to support phase two," a senior Commission official said.

In exchange for their public contribution, the EU and the supporting member states will receive a proportionate share of compute access to allocate to public projects, research centres and AI labs of their choosing.

All operating costs will fall on the private actors involved, with EU officials insisting the projects must be financially sustainable by developing their own commercial services, given that access to AI compute remains scarce and valuable.

Massive infrastructure projects of this kind have attracted criticism in the past, as they tend to favour member states with the deepest pockets.

Ten countries have expressed interest in hosting a gigafactory: Germany, Italy, France, Poland, Czechia, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Portugal and Spain. Both single-country and multi-country consortia are possible, and Paris has already signalled it intends to do it alon

Another recurrent criticism is that while the gigafactories aim to build sovereign European infrastructure, the EU remains heavily reliant on foreign suppliers for specialised AI chips.

In this regard, the Commission has signed memoranda of understanding with three chipmakers: Nvidia, AMD and Qualcomm. Among the criteria to assess the tenders are also measures to avoid potential lock-in effects from suppliers.

"We're very aware that we wish to build up Europe's capacity, but we also need to recognise, at the same time, that we want to do some AI right now. So, it's about striking the right balance," a senior EU official said.

The successful projects are expected to begin physical construction of the gigafactories at the start of 2027, with facilities due to become operational by mid-2028.

How the EU AI Act is reshaping company rules from Washington to Tokyo

Copyright Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

By Una Hajdari

Published on 30/07/2026 - EURONEWS

Nearly half the companies citing the EU's AI Act in their governance disclosures have no legal obligation to follow it, as new research shows the rules are shaping practices well beyond the bloc's borders.

Turns out Brussels' penchant for what is often perceived as overregulation is having a ripple effect well beyond the EU

Nearly half of the companies referencing the EU's Artificial Intelligence Act in their governance disclosures are not based in the EU at all, according to new research, suggesting Brussels is beginning to set a global standard for AI governance even before the bloc's toughest rules take full effect.

The analysis, published by the Thomson Reuters Foundation using data from its AI Company Data Initiative (AICDI), draws on more than 100,000 data points collected from 2,973 companies worldwide.

It found that 47% of firms citing the Act in their disclosures are headquartered outside the EU.

The report describes this as evidence of a "Brussels Effect" in AI governance, the term used to describe the tendency of EU regulation to become a global benchmark, most notably with the GDPR.

According to the findings, the effect "is not yet broad-based, but it is visible, significant, and concentrated where market incentives to align are strongest."

The Act, fully applicable from August 2026, is the first comprehensive, cross-sector AI law of its kind.

Its reach extends beyond the EU's own borders, applying to any organisation whose AI systems are used in the bloc or whose outputs affect EU citizens, businesses or public institutions.

Years in the making

The Act itself has been in force since 2024, but its obligations are being phased in gradually rather than all at once.

Bans on the riskiest AI uses and transparency rules for general-purpose AI models were already in effect by December 2025. It is specifically the rules for high-risk systems, covering areas like hiring, credit and healthcare, that become fully binding in August 2026.

As with the GDPR, this extraterritorial scope means that even non-EU firms face the same binding obligations, with penalties reaching €35 million or 7% of global annual revenue for the most serious breaches.

Yet this should not be confused with a widespread trend of companies acknowledging AI use or having AI usage frameworks.

Across all sectors, only 13% of companies have any formal AI governance framework at all, regardless of whether they mention the EU AI Act.

Of that 13% who do have a framework in place, just over half, 53%, specifically reference the EU AI Act. And of that group who reference the Act, 47% are headquartered outside the EU.

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Tech sector leads the way

Engagement with the Act varies strongly depending on the industry and geographic location.

Information technology firms alone account for nearly 40% of all non-EU companies citing the Act, with communication services and financial services together contributing a further 29%.

Regionally, North America leads non-EU engagement at just under 40%, driven largely by US technology and healthcare firms with a significant EU market presence.

Non-EU European companies — UK, Swiss and Norwegian firms in particular — follow at around 24%, reflecting close commercial and regulatory ties to the bloc.

Asian firms have a citation rate of roughly 28%, concentrated among technology companies embedded in global AI supply chains.

The United States offers a particularly striking example given its own hands-off approach to AI regulation.

The US has no overarching federal AI law, yet American companies account for 35% of all non-EU citers of the EU Act — the single largest national contributor.

Within the US, 53% of citing companies come from the IT sector, and one in five US IT firms in the dataset references the Act, the highest rate of any sector nationally.

Major US technology firms including Microsoft, Google, OpenAI and xAI have voluntarily aligned with elements of the EU's AI Code of Practice, according to the report, motivated by the prospect of continued access to the European market.

The gaps behind the good scores

Companies that mention the Act tend to do the basics well. They have a clear AI plan, board-level oversight, transparency about the data they use. Non-EU firms citing the Act even outperform EU companies on this.

On the other hand, EU firms lead on workforce training, with 49.4% offering reskilling or AI literacy programmes, compared with 40.6% of non-EU firms.

But strategy oversight is one thing. Checking what the AI is actually doing, case by case, is another. Only 12.4% of companies worldwide have a policy requiring a human to review individual AI decisions, and even then, nearly half have not figured out how that works in practice.

Rights checks are rarer still. Fewer than one in four companies assess whether their AI could harm employee rights, even among the most engaged with the Act.

That part is about to matter a lot more. From August 2026, companies using high-risk AI, in hiring, credit or healthcare, will be legally required to run that check before rollout, and report the results to regulators.