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Why are Europeans more effective at passing big legislation than the US? (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 year ago by nodimetotie@lemmy.world to c/europe@feddit.de

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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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[–] Don_alForno@feddit.de 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm not saying you're wrong but you're under some inaccurate assumptions about the EU.

As Trump had to learn, individual EU countries don't make their own trade deals (that would collide with the single market).

Our laws too can be struck down as not in line with EU law, as seen with Germany's attempt at highway tolls for example.

Also, there are different classes of EU legislation, most importantly directives and regulations. The former set a goal that the countries must achieve, but how they implement it is up to them. The latter do become law as soon as the EU passes them, there is no need for individual Parliaments to ratify them or "copy" them over to their national law. They often still do to avoid collisions, but it wouldn't be a requirement for the regulation to become effective.

And last but not least, Switzerland sadly is not a member.

[–] atrielienz@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Well. I picked Switzerland on a whim. Substitute Finland or France or whatever.

There is still an assumption that GDPR and laws like it could be implemented in the US but companies count as entities that have rights and freedoms that cannot be infringed by the federal government here as well. Is that the case with the EU and its members?