It's true that one company's success doesn't prove anything for an entire system, and Mistral AI is probably an outlier, but that doesn't mean the European AI regulatory framework is doomed.
Every system has its costs, and sometimes those compliance costs are just the price of doing business in a certain way.
We can't ignore the fact that without some rules, things would quickly become a free-for-all, and that always costs more in the long run.
Think about trying to run a small shop without any clear food safety rules; you'd constantly worry about getting sued or making people sick, which is a huge drain on resources.