But that part of the speech didn’t include an appeal to AI frontrunners U.S. and China, and their leaders Trump and Xi, to act on it — only an offer to middle powers like the U.K. and Canada “and others” to team up on testing the models.

Von der Leyen received good marks from MEPs and AI safety experts for her comments on what is within Brussels’ remit, which highlighted the limits on the actions the EU can take.

“Finally, the Commission is addressing the frontier risks,” said German Greens lawmaker Sergey Lagodinsky in a statement shared with POLITICO. He praised the “middle powers alliance and dialogue with AI labs” as “the right step.”

But he also urged the Commission to “limit the risks” by implementing the AI Act “ambitiously.”

Daniel Privitera, executive director of the Berlin-based KIRA Centre AI think tank, commended von der Leyen for acknowledging the risks, but said more is needed than just a meeting.

“Inviting CEOs to talk about how Europe can help with efforts to pace the frontier is a first step, but Europe can and should do more to help with a safe transition to transformative AI,” he said.

He added that her pitch to team up with the U.K. and Canada to test models is “promising,” as it gives the middle powers “strategic leverage vis-a-vis the two AI superpowers in the world.”

But mentioning the testing of models is one thing; promptly creating a mechanism for doing so is quite another. “We urgently need these things,” Privitera said, “as catastrophic risks from frontier AI become more salient.”