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What's the use of having a free and open market in the EU if you'll have to deal with the same legislation headaches across countries anyway? That and the fact

What's the use of having a free and open market in the EU if you'll have to deal with the same legislation headaches across countries anyway? That and the fact that many countries want to reform the Schengen open immigration agreements tells me that protectionism is making a come back inside of the EU. Very sad. And of course, it's being used to harass foreign companies. Instead of making the Union more business friendly for tech companies to compete against SV, they do this, plus the VAT thing hell they voted last year, not to forget the ridiculous cookies thingy and the "right to be forgotten". The EU is on a roll.

Qantourisc 11y ago
Well before we had import tax, customs, border control, different currencies... It might not be perfect, but it's a lot better then it used to be.
duncanawoods 11y ago
Here is one way to look at it: The tech\corporate\spy world is moving so fast that we need experimentation at smaller scales to discover the right types of privacy and information law. Implementation of "right to be forgotten" on a small scale might have helped find a better implementation before being rolled out at a broad scale. Delegating law making to states lets this experimentation and evolution happen. You can add you own start-up metaphor. If I look at the US, the federal level seems to be a quagmire and prevent progress (health, education, guns) compared to the rest of the world. However, when states set law independently, the rate of change seems much faster (gay marriage, drug laws). I can't see the US minting a new citizen right at the expense of corporations at the federal level - this is tragic. However, it might if states led the way first. "Business friendly" and "protectionism" read like talking points from a corporate PR machine. I see the EU pursuing citizen's rights for the modern world when the US is stagnant / regressing.

Qantourisc 11y ago

Well before we had import tax, customs, border control, different currencies... It might not be perfect, but it's a lot better then it used to be.

duncanawoods 11y ago

Here is one way to look at it: The tech\corporate\spy world is moving so fast that we need experimentation at smaller scales to discover the right types of privacy and information law. Implementation of "right to be forgotten" on a small scale might have helped find a better implementation before being rolled out at a broad scale. Delegating law making to states lets this experimentation and evolution happen. You can add you own start-up metaphor. If I look at the US, the federal level seems to be a quagmire and prevent progress (health, education, guns) compared to the rest of the world. However, when states set law independently, the rate of change seems much faster (gay marriage, drug laws). I can't see the US minting a new citizen right at the expense of corporations at the federal level - this is tragic. However, it might if states led the way first. "Business friendly" and "protectionism" read like talking points from a corporate PR machine. I see the EU pursuing citizen's rights for the modern world when the US is stagnant / regressing.