The European Union has unveiled three major generative artificial intelligence projects worth a combined €36.8 million, with €18.4 million provided directly through EU funding, as Brussels seeks to expand the use of the technology across public administrations while avoiding the mistakes of previous innovation programmes.
The newly announced initiatives, named Floods and Droughts, Eunomia.AI and EuropAI, are designed to help governments develop and deploy generative AI tools in areas ranging from climate crisis management to public services and digital assistance. The projects are scheduled to run until 2029 or 2030.
The funding comes as the EU attempts to strike a balance between encouraging wider adoption of generative AI in both the public and private sectors and ensuring public money is spent on projects that deliver measurable results. Policymakers have warned that stronger oversight will be needed to prevent “AI-washing,” where projects promise technological breakthroughs without producing meaningful outcomes, echoing criticism of some earlier EU-funded innovation programmes.
Industry observers have also argued that future funding programmes should make it easier for European startups and scale-ups with proven expertise in generative AI to participate. Complex procurement rules and administrative requirements have often discouraged fast-growing technology companies from competing for EU and national funding opportunities.
Italy is leading the Floods and Droughts project in partnership with organisations from France, Spain and Greece. The initiative has a total budget of €8.8 million, including €4.4 million from the EU, and is due to conclude on June 30, 2030. The project aims to equip public authorities with generative AI tools that improve forecasting, emergency response and communication with citizens during increasingly frequent climate-related disasters such as floods and droughts.
Spain heads the Eunomia.AI consortium, which also includes partners from Austria, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Portugal, Latvia, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Italy, Hungary, Norway and Malta. The €13.9 million project, supported by €6.9 million in EU funding, is expected to finish by June 30, 2029, with initial pilot programmes planned within 18 months.
Its objectives include deploying trustworthy generative AI across 25 public administrations and at least 15 public services while strengthening Europe’s technological independence through the use and refinement of European open-source AI models. The project also plans to establish high-performance AI infrastructure at the University of Granada, with the option of expanding through local federated systems.
The third initiative, EuropAI, is coordinated by the Netherlands alongside Denmark, Belgium and Luxembourg. It carries the same €13.9 million budget, with half financed by the EU, and is also scheduled for completion in June 2029.
EuropAI will focus on legislative and administrative simplification, urban planning and digital services for citizens. The consortium says European governments should reduce dependence on non-European AI platforms by creating a shared framework where member states can jointly develop, test and reuse trusted generative AI solutions. The project will build on Denmark’s OS2ai platform and the Netherlands’ GovChat-NL while offering reusable AI models, compliance tools and a marketplace for approved applications.
