this post was submitted on 03 Oct 2023
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Why are Europeans more effective at passing big legislation than the US? (lemmy.world)
submitted 10 months ago by nodimetotie@lemmy.world to c/europe@feddit.de
69 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

EU has done really well on passing big laws such as GDPR in the recent years, while the US can't even seem to decide whether to fund their own government. Why do you think Europe is doing better than the US? One would think that since EU is more diverse it would be harder to find common ground. And there were examples of that during the Greece debt crisis. But not anymore, it seems.

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[–] bleistift2@feddit.de 43 points 10 months ago (4 children)

“yet”.

I feel like we’re just one or two decades behind on … everything bad in the US.

[–] ForgotAboutDre@lemmy.world 31 points 10 months ago

I think it is much harder to lobby the EU due to it's structure. The EU is composed of many countries with distinct culture and objectives. The only way for everyone to agree on policies is compromise. This makes it much harder to successfully lobby..

If you lobby one political party in the EU successfully, you will only have about 2% of the votes Whereas in the US you have about 50% of the votes and of course you would focus on the party best placed to make the change.

Europe does still have issues with lobbies. In many of the individual countries the effectiveness of lobbying is comparable, and in some cases worse.

The best solution are anti-lobbying regulation, increased political engagement of the electorate, better journalism and proportionate representarion.

[–] nicocool84@sh.itjust.works 3 points 10 months ago

Oh yeah. We sure love to criticize and make fun of muricans, but we do the same, just a few years later.

[–] CookieJarObserver@sh.itjust.works 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

EU is to ununified to be governed by lobbyists, also our courts work...

[–] suomisepp@feddit.de 0 points 10 months ago

I think it is exactly the other way around. Companies are well-organized on the global level and can influence Brussels and national EU governments. See the latest Qatar scandal or the often cited cucumber regulations. However, in Europe, the social market orientation results in majorities favoring more government control. In contrast, the US often rejects such policies as "communism".

[–] dustyData@lemmy.world 0 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Maybe it's just me, but it seems that Lobbying isn't that big in Europe and several states have laws actively against the practice. Sure, corrupt politicians still exists, but they are more easily exposed under anti-corruption laws. Unlike in the USA where it's practically legalized bribery.

[–] bernieecclestoned@sh.itjust.works 3 points 10 months ago (4 children)

Why are there 25k lobbyists in Brussels then?

https://corporateeurope.org/en/lobbyplanet

[–] Sodis@feddit.de 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

The word you are looking for is corruption. It always gets mixed up with lobbying. Lobbying is not inherently bad. It is good practice to ask the people a law applies to, if the law is feasible. It helps to avoid passing laws, that are completely impracticable and destroy a whole sector of economy in the worst case.

[–] bernieecclestoned@sh.itjust.works 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

I'd agree if there was a level playing field, but there isn't, those with the most money get the most influence. It is a form of corruption.

It's known as caviar diplomacy

Between 2012 and 2014, the Azerbaijan regime allegedly channeled billions of dollars through offshore companies to launder money and pay for bribes. That strategy was since dubbed “caviar diplomacy” after a report in which a senior Azerbaijani policymaker said: “There are a lot of deputies in the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly whose first greeting, after ‘Hello,’ is ‘Where is the caviar?’

https://www.politico.eu/newsletter/politico-eu-influence/azerbaijan-crisis-raises-fresh-scrutiny-over-eu-lobbying-battle-2/

[–] Sodis@feddit.de 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

No, that's just corruption, not lobbyism.

[–] bernieecclestoned@sh.itjust.works 1 points 10 months ago

Lobbyism leads to corruption is my feeling

[–] dustyData@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I don't know, why?

I never said it wasn't a thing, just that it's harder. Open secrets says that there are 12,000 on Washington D.C. alone. I'd guess there are many times more than those on every state, with the largest states having more. It's a global issue, that's not an argument.

[–] bernieecclestoned@sh.itjust.works 2 points 10 months ago

Maybe it's just me, but it seems that Lobbying isn't that big in Europe

It is big though.

[–] ciferecaNinjo@fedia.io 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Those EU lobbyists have less capability. They cannot finance a campaign for a politician, can they?

The US has #CitizensUnited.

The US also has corporate lobbyists who use fraudulent techniques such as writing thousands of letters from fake people (they got caught doing this on the #netneutrality issue whereby Congress got thousands of letters appearing to be from individual human beings who all opposed network neutrality -- LOL). Are EU corporate lobbyists willing to partake in such blatant fraud?

Biggest lobby in the US → #NRA. The NRA owns about ½ the politicians. And since the NRA are right-wing extremists who work with #ALEC (right-wing lobby & bill mill), they push everything in favor of big corps and against human beings. They block progress.

[–] bernieecclestoned@sh.itjust.works 3 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Well, lobbyists don't fund campaigns, they seek to influence for cash.

There are loads of shady things going on in the EU agriculture sector, the US doesn't have a monopoly on shady lobbyists.

https://www.politico.eu/article/copa-cogeca-farmering-lobby-europe/

Pharma is by far the biggest spender on lobbying

https://www.statista.com/statistics/257364/top-lobbying-industries-in-the-us/