To a larger point, european citizens are largely favorable to those regulations, which makes passing these rules possible, and not a political suicide.
HN might not be representative, but the number of comments we see defending companies's right to make as much money as they can and against regulation that would add costs to businesses is IMHO pretty high. If that's the general US sentiment, politicians the have little upside in putting burdens on tech companies in the first place.
European citizens are largely ignorant of EU regulations, EU politics and EU spending. Most European citizens do not know the name of the EU president. But Europeans will categorically support and agree with EU policy and laws.
As for cookie laws, can we honestly say that they have done anything to protect people from corporate spying and abuse of private information? Real regulation would be to outlaw that kind of spying, not putting up annoying banners so that some web developer can feel good about themselves.
> European citizens are largely ignorant of EU regulations, EU politics and EU spending.
On spendings, probably. On regulations, oh boy do people care.
Regulations have pretty direct impact on each countries' economy, and they get discussed nationally before being applied. That means meat prices rises when some practices get banned or a whole sector suddenly getting competitive when barriers to entry are lowered.
For better or worse, people care a lot, and the negative sentiments are enough to fuel may extreme side politics.
> Most European citizens do not know the name of the EU president.
Probably a bit controversial but to some degree, that is a good thing. It prevents personality cult and allows to pursue agendas that think in longer terms.
In Switzerland, quite a big part of the population could probably not name the current seven members of the federal council - they can actually get work done, without having to appease the public at every corner.
> European citizens are largely ignorant of EU regulations, EU politics and EU spending. Most European citizens do not know the name of the EU president.
Very bold claim. Do you have any sources to back it up? EU politics are in the news all the time here.
Go ask a European. Who are the three EU presidents? Who were the EU presidents before them? Then ask them who is the current US president? And which presidents were before him? Which are the two top candidates in the 2024 election?
And we have input via our governments, and the national parliaments have a say in the procedures: a group of 1/3 of all national parliaments can send proposals back.
