00:03President of the European Central Bank Christine Lagarde warned on Wednesday that Europe missed
00:09out on the first digital revolution and cannot afford to miss out again with AI. Lagarde told
00:15the International Business Council of the World Economic Forum in Geneva that the EU needs to
00:20complete its single market and integrate capital markets that remain too fragmented if it wants
00:27to win the AI race against the US and China. In 2024 her predecessor Mario Draghi had already
00:34pointed to AI as the last chance for Europe to rejoin the international tech race. Since then
00:40the European Commission has promoted the uptake of AI as well as the financing of data centers.
00:47In addition Lagarde stressed that access to capital is limiting AI investments as capital markets remain
00:54too limited at the national level. Hence the ECB president called for speeding up key reforms
01:00currently under negotiation in Brussels, namely the Savings and Investment Union and single market
01:06integration reforms such as EU Inc.
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