European Union

Published on
08/09/2026 – 10:39 GMT+2

Europe’s answer to OpenAI has just become considerably better funded.

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The Paris-based company Mistral AI announced its Series D on Tuesday, three years after being seeded, with the memory chip giant Samsung leading alongside the EU-backed Scaleup Europe Fund, managed by EQT, and existing investor PSG Equity.

The step up is steep.

Mistral was valued at €11.7 billion in 2025 after a €1.7 billion Series C led by Dutch chipmaker ASML, meaning the company has almost doubled its valuation in a year.

Much of the money is going into concrete rather than code. CEO Arthur Mensch announced the funding would build out data centres and computing capacity that Mistral can rent to others but that will also ensure autonomy.

“Long term, the plan is to fully rely on capacity that we are building ourselves, and so that means that the amount of compute that we own is going to grow around 100% in the next five years,” Mensch said, adding that the company would train “bigger and faster models.”

Mistral is already spending €4 billion on data centres across France and Europe, with one facility running outside Paris and another under construction in Sweden.

It raised further debt financing in March for the same purpose, and Microsoft has agreed to fund capacity from its European network, built around thousands of Nvidia chips.

Both Microsoft and Nvidia are also investors in Mistral, with the latter also adding exposure in this funding round.

The company says more than 125 enterprises across 20 countries use its technology, and Mistral projects it will pass a billion in annual recurring revenue by the end of 2026.

Europe lags behind in the AI race

Despite the news, Europe continues to critically lag behind in the global AI race.

Mistral’s valuation sits far below OpenAI and Anthropic, and Europe’s wider AI sector remains a fraction of the American one, with enterprise adoption across the bloc running at around 13.5%.

Other European contenders exist but are smaller.

Germany’s Aleph Alpha focuses on government and regulated industries rather than competing at the frontier, while Helsing has grown quickly in defence applications, and Switzerland’s Apertus offers fully open models and training data.

Brussels is trying to close the gap.

The InvestAI initiative carries a €200 billion headline commitment, and in July the Commission opened tenders for up to seven AI gigafactories, aiming to unlock more than €30 billion in investment, though those sites are not expected to operate until next year or 2028.

Thirteen smaller AI factories are already being built across seven EU countries.

The AI Act became applicable in August, but its toughest obligations were pushed back by the digital omnibus agreed in May, with high-risk rules now landing in December 2027 and August 2028, a delay Brussels framed as making the policy more innovation-friendly.

A major travel change is set to impact British holidaymakers going to and from Europe as of today (7 September), and an expert has issued some crucial advice to avoid disruption

An expert has issued a warning to all Brits travelling to and from Europe as a significant change comes into force.

The European Union’s (EU) Entry/Exit System (EES) was rolled out across airports earlier this year, and, in a bid to reduce travel disruption, member states were permitted to relax some of its restrictions. EU countries such as France, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Spain were allowed to temporarily “lift biometric registration” until the end of summer to ensure there was “some relief for the worst-case scenario”, and temporarily switched off the EES when required.

Many European countries utilised the eased measures, particually during the summer holidays, as the EES requires all British passport holders to create a digital record and register their biometric details, such as fingerprints and a photograph, upon arrival in the Schengen area. However, as of today, Monday, 7 September, the ability to relax EES requirements is expected to have expired, with no formal announcement made of an extension.

With uncertainty building that it could prompt airport chaos if there is no further leeway given to Brits when travelling through the EU and the digital system, an expert has issued a warning about the impacts. Anton Radchenko, aviation expert and CEO of passenger-rights company AirAdvisor, explained: “The part of this most travellers have not clocked is that the risk runs both ways. Everyone worries about queues when arriving in Europe, but British passengers can also become trapped at exit control at a Spanish, Italian or other Schengen airport when trying to fly home.

“If a passenger misses an operating flight solely because of a passport-control queue, there is generally no automatic EU261 right to compensation or free rebooking. Airlines may help voluntarily, but passengers should not assume they will, and many insurance policies only cover specified causes such as public transport failure, so the exact wording needs to be checked.

“If the airline delays the flight because passengers are stuck in the queue, its normal care obligations still apply after the relevant waiting period. If it cancels, passengers remain entitled to a refund or rerouting, even though fixed compensation is unlikely where the border disruption was outside the airline’s control.”

Anton added: “My advice is to treat the return journey as seriously as the flight out. Follow the airport’s arrival-time guidance, go to passport control promptly, alert the airline before the gate closes if the queue becomes excessive and preserve time-stamped evidence showing where the delay occurred.”

There have been reports that some member states may still allow eased measures moving forward, although nothing has been officially announced. A European Commission spokesperson told the Guardian at the beginning of last week: “We are in close and constructive contact with those few member states where some adjustments are needed at certain border crossing points. And during an additional period of operational adjustment that is needed at these few operational border crossing points, the commission stands ready to provide additional support to these member states.”

Meanwhile, Ryanair has called on the EU Commission to “immediately” extend the EES flexibility until next year. Ryanair’s COO Neal McMahon said: “The EU’s handling of EES has been a shambles from start to finish. Airlines, airports and border authorities repeatedly warned Brussels that the rollout was not ready, that it would increase processing times and that it would create excessive queues for passengers. Those warnings were ignored, with EU citizens the ones delayed and disrupted.

“Passengers should not be made to pay the price for the EU’s failed EES rollout. Ryanair calls on the EU Commission to urgently extend the EES derogation until at least Apr 2027, so that airports and border authorities have the time needed to fix malfunctioning kiosks, increase staffing levels and ensure the system can operate efficiently before full enforcement is introduced and passengers are condemned to these excessive border control delays for another season.”

Do you have a travel story to share? Email webtravel@reachplc.com

COPENHAGEN: EU chief Ursula von der Leyen heads to Greenland on Sunday for a two-day visit aimed at reaffirming the bloc’s support for the Danish autonomous territory coveted by US President Donald Trump.

On Monday, she is due to sign a joint declaration between the European Union and Greenland.

“Greenland is becoming increasingly important to the EU as a gateway to the Arctic and because of its geopolitical location, critical raw materials and role in Arctic security,” Marc Jacobsen, a researcher at the Royal Danish Defence College, told AFP.

Trump was adamant earlier this year about Washington’s need to control the vast Arctic island for reasons of national security, though he ultimately ruled out annexing it by force.

A Danish-Greenlandic-US working group has since met regularly to find an agreement on cooperation going forward.

Following Trump’s threats, European countries broadly backed Denmark and Greenland, and in January von der Leyen vowed “massive” EU investment in Greenland to step up security in the Arctic.

Greenland is not a member of the bloc though Denmark is.

Brussels has also proposed doubling direct EU aid to Greenland to 530 million euros ($616 million) under the bloc’s next budget for the 2028-2034 period.

According to the Financial Times, von der Leyen is expected to propose an additional 200 million euros in support during her visit on Sunday and Monday.

Her visit coincides with the start of NATO’s Arctic Shield military exercise, bringing together soldiers from 10 countries.

Mikaa Blugeon-Mered, a geopolitics researcher at the University of Quebec, called the timing a “not insignificant coincidence”.

The Trump administration has repeatedly accused Denmark of neglecting Greenland and Arctic security.

Copenhagen has since reinvested in the region, as has NATO, which launched its Arctic Sentry mission at the start of the year.

“The EU cannot provide Greenland with a military security guarantee in the way NATO can, but it can provide something politically important: a clear signal that Greenland is not standing alone,” Jacobsen said.

Pressure

The message is all the more important as the US has kept up pressure on Greenland — though Trump has been less vocal since a May visit by his special envoy Jeff Landry.

“We’ve been getting ‘postcards’ from Trump or those close to him about Greenland every month, showing that they haven’t forgotten,” noted Blugeon-Mered.

One such image Trump posted on Truth Social in May showed him peering over the island, with the headline “Hello, Greenland!”.

In August, media reports of an American oil company’s preparatory operations in a remote region of eastern Greenland rekindled concerns on the island.

The project, run by a Texas-based company with licenses granted before a 2021 moratorium on oil and gas exploration and extraction, has left locals and authorities uneasy.

Authorities have yet to grant the company approval for exploratory drilling, citing procedural reasons.

Greenland is also struggling to develop its mining industry, which could help it fund its independence from Denmark.

In this area, Greenlandic and European interests are “highly complementary”, Jacobsen said.

“Greenland needs investment, infrastructure and markets if it is to realise its mining ambitions, while the EU is looking for more secure and diversified access to critical raw materials,” he said.

But turning Greenland’s geological potential into reality is proving more difficult than expected.

Some 135 mining permits are held by more than 60 companies, but only two mines are currently in operation.

“The question is whether the current geopolitical momentum will ultimately be a game-changer,” Jacobsen said.

Blugeon-Mered said von der Leyen’s visit to Greenland — her second in two years — was a strong signal that European investment is long-term.

The EU chief is scheduled to hold talks during her visit with Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, and the head of government of Denmark’s other self-governing territory, the Faroe Islands.

The regulations are being updated again from September 6

A change in EU border rules comes into force on Sunday, meaning everyone from the UK heading into Europe from today could face longer queues. The European Union has been rolling out a new Entry/Exit System (EES), which sees everyone from the UK entering countries like France, Spain, Greece and Portugal having to wait for a machine to enter biometric data.

That includes having your picture taken, having fingerprints scanned and allowing the machine to take a copy of your passport. The system was launched at the end of last year, but queues were so long – sometimes around four hours – that the machines were switched off at some borders and a new date for full use was set – September 6, 2026.

EES was originally planned to go live in 2022 but has been repeatedly delayed due to technical problems and then to avoid peak travel times. It was officially launched in October 2025 and was supposed to be fully rolled out within six months.

By April this year, there had already been severe queue delays, with passengers missing flights, and Greece temporarily suspended EES – followed by suspensions at multiple other EU borders. Those suspensions are supposed to end today.

Airlines have called for the EU to extend the suspension until the end of this year. And there are reports that not everyone will face EES, with France reportedly suffering technical problems that could see it out of use this week.

The fingerprinting kiosks at Port of Dover and London St Pancras are not currently working. A Eurotunnel spokesperson told The Guardian it is “awaiting confirmation from the French authorities on the timing of this next phase”.

A source told The Guardian some countries, including Greece, may continue to use manual checks rather than the automated system despite the September 6 deadline.

Airlines trade body Iata last week called for an official extension, saying there are still delays and still reports of missed flights.

A European Commission spokesperson said: “We are in close and constructive contact with those few member states where some adjustments are needed at certain border crossing points. And during an additional period of operational adjustment that is needed at these few operational border crossing points, the commission stands ready to provide additional support to these member states.”