The European Parliament called Thursday for parliamentary scrutiny and regulation of the impact of artificial intelligence on EU democratic processes, institutional balance, and fundamental rights.
In a resolution on the institutional aspects of artificial intelligence (AI) in the context of European integration, MEPs assessed the opportunities and the concerns related to the use of AI in public administration and democratic process.
MEPs made clear they recognised AI’s transformative potential in supporting EU lawmaking but stress that AI use within the EU institutions needed to remain ‘human-centred, subject to human oversight, and aligned with EU values’.
AI can assist with evidence-based policymaking, and the simplification and evaluation of EU law, MEPs argued, but must never replace human political responsibility or result in purely automated political decisions.
In their resolution, the MEPs said European AI tools should be prioritised, particularly within EU institutions. To this end, the text says that the EU should scale up “European technology” and ensure strategic autonomy across the AI value chain.
Technologies with global security and societal implications require an international agreement, modelled on nuclear non-proliferation, with the EU taking a leading role. Safeguards must be built alongside AI, but without unnecessarily hampering innovation or competitiveness.
There was a recognition that artificial intelligence is increasingly shaping political communication, electoral processes, public discourse and decision-making. Consequently MEPs have called for a systematic parliamentary assessment of risks as well as opportunities of AI and for a reform of the European electoral law. The Charter of Fundamental Rights needed to include new rights, they said, such as the protection of personal identity and likeness and algorithmic transparency, add MEPs.
The report proposes a budget-neutral administrative unit – the “European Parliament AI observatory” – to support the work of Parliament committees in tasks such as ex post evaluation of AI-related legislation and analysis of AI’s impact on the Union’s institutional balance and democratic processes.
The adopted text will be available here (12.11.2026) – European Parliament
