EU tech chief rejects US security rationale for Anthropic AI model shutdown

EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen on Monday rejected Washington’s national security justification for blocking non-Americans from Anthropic’s Fable 5 and Mythos 5 models.china
The U.S. Commerce Department ordered the shutdown on June 12; Anthropic disabled the models globally because nationality-based filtering proved technically unfeasible.reuters
The crisis has energized support for the European Commission’s Cloud and AI Development Act, unveiled June 3, which would restrict foreign-controlled providers from sensitive government contracts.techpolicy

EU Pushes Back on US AI Export Controls, Citing Digital Sovereignty

The European Commission has mounted a forceful response to the Trump administration’s export control directive that forced Anthropic to shut down its most advanced AI models for non-American users, with Brussels warning Washington against treating allies as security threats and accelerating its push for technological independence.

Commission Warns Against Discrimination

On June 12, the US Department of Commerce issued a directive ordering Anthropic to suspend all access to its Fable 5 and Mythos 5 models for foreign nationals, citing national security concerns. Because distinguishing users by nationality proved technically unfeasible, the company was forced to disable the models globally.techzine

European Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier confirmed on Sunday that Brussels is “looking closely at the practical consequences of this for European users of these services,” adding that “contingency measures taken in this light should not be discriminatory against partners”.reuters

On Monday, EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen rejected Washington’s national security framing outright. “Europe represents an economic opportunity, not a security risk. We are and will remain a trusted partner,” she said, calling for cooperation on frontier AI models and urging swift adoption of measures to reduce EU dependence on foreign technology.china

Liberals Sound Alarm Over “Digital Colonization”

The Renew Europe group in the European Parliament condemned the move ahead of a parliamentary debate on technological sovereignty scheduled for Tuesday. Dutch MEP Bart Groothuis called for Europe to develop its own large language models “or face digital colonization,” while French MEP Christophe Grudler warned that the US “holds a real ‘kill-switch’ over essential technologies and they are more than willing to use it”.reneweuropegroup

Grudler called on Europe to mobilize “billions of euros in our own European AI ecosystem”.reneweuropegroup

Sovereignty Package Gains Urgency

The episode has lent new weight to the European Technological Sovereignty Package, which the Commission unveiled on June 3. That package includes the Cloud and AI Development Act, which introduces a four-tier certification framework for cloud services used by public authorities, with the strictest tier effectively excluding providers subject to foreign jurisdiction.techpolicy

Regnier said the Anthropic shutdown “further emphasizes the necessity for Europe to attain technological sovereignty”. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei is expected to join G7 leaders for a working lunch on Wednesday to discuss AI governance.euronews