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 11 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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[–] dustyData@lemmy.world 0 points 11 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 11 months ago (4 children)

Why are there 25k lobbyists in Brussels then?

https://corporateeurope.org/en/lobbyplanet

[–] Sodis@feddit.de 2 points 11 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 11 months ago* (last edited 11 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 11 months ago (1 children)

No, that's just corruption, not lobbyism.

[–] bernieecclestoned@sh.itjust.works 1 points 11 months ago

Lobbyism leads to corruption is my feeling

[–] ciferecaNinjo@fedia.io 1 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 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 11 months ago* (last edited 11 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/

[–] dustyData@lemmy.world 1 points 11 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 11 months ago

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

It is big though.