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Because Europe has not legalized corruption to the same degree as the US. Massive campaign contributions is not as common in Europe, hence large European multi-
by socialdemocrat 7y ago
Because Europe has not legalized corruption to the same degree as the US. Massive campaign contributions is not as common in Europe, hence large European multi-nationals likely don't have the same opportunity to change regulations to serve them.
Of course they can still influence politicians by talking about all the jobs they will provide etc. Also power in Europe is not centralized the same way as it is in the US. In the US you can lobby Washington DC.
American lobbyist companies started swarming Brüssels as soon as the EU started gaining more power over national legislation.
So there is potential for the EU to head in the US direction, but it isn't quite there yet.
- isostatic 7y ago> Massive campaign contributions is not as common in Europe Also far more complex - the political groupings in europe (EPP, ALDE, etc) are far looser organizations than the US parties, and power is spread in lots of different levels. Most Euro countries are coalitions of smaller parties too, defence in depth. The US and UK suffer from having just two parties that from time to time get all the power. Infiltrate one party and your time will come. Infiltrate both and you're safe.
- hnarn 7y ago> Brüssels Please stop that. Brussels is the English name for the city and clearly that letter does not exist in English. Alternatives are "Brussel" (Dutch) and "Bruxelles" (French). The closest to what you wrote is the German "Brüssel" (no S).
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- qaq 7y agoLooking at how Gazprom is buying EU politicians wholesale ...
- tempguy9999 7y agoCould you provide a link?
- baq 7y agohttps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerhard_Schröder https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerhard_Schröder criticism section
- jimbobimbo 7y ago"EU paid Airbus billions in illegal subsidies, WTO rules": https://www.bbc.com/news/business-44120525 https://www.bbc.com/news/business-44120525
- elygre 7y ago“ WTO says U.S. failed to halt state tax subsidy for Boeing”: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-eu-usa-aircraft-wto/wto-says-us-failed-to-halt-state-tax-subsidy-for-boeing-idUSKCN1R923B https://www.reuters.com/article/us-eu-usa-aircraft-wto/wto-s...
- jimbobimbo 7y agoI did not argue the opposite.
- pinkfoot 7y agoPositions on HN should be "comprehensive" w.r.t data, no?
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- ChaosDegenerate 7y agoIt is funny how you think there is no corruption in Brussels. Of course it is there! The rules of the game are though that we don't touch our own Corporations. So Brussels will look the other way when VW cheats their customers in the US and Washington won't care when let's say Google has its way in EU. The real difference is that corruption is somehow legalized in the USA (a.k.a "lobbying") while it's not in the EU, so you will just not know about VW CEO hadling bags of money to Brussels unelected environnmental commissar.
- gumby 7y agosocialdemocrat didn't claim no corruption, simply not the same degree. Corruption in Europe is different, and often more subtle, than in the US (have lived and worked in both) but I do feel that over the 30 years the US has really gotten a lot worse compared to the EU countries.
- muro 7y agoEastern EU countries would disagree.
- jacobush 7y agoThe corruption also flourished during communism, but in different apparent form. Before communism, I don't know. (But the Habsburg empires I expect were deeply corrupt too - but the "west" was deeply corrupt too so it also gets difficult to compare.)
- gumby 7y agoSadly, that's a fair point.
- philjohn 7y agoBut that's at a "state" level.
- CaptainZapp 7y agoHave you ever looked at the list of companies, which mwere massively fined by the EU? It's not that European companies get the kid glove treatment if they violate the law.
- briandear 7y ago> Because Europe has not legalized corruption to the same degree as the US. https://www.spiegel.de/international/business/suspicions-of-bribery-throw-shadow-over-airbus-a-1260324.html https://www.spiegel.de/international/business/suspicions-of-...
- pdonis 7y ago> Europe has not legalized corruption to the same degree as the US Surely you jest. EU law is written by unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats to an even larger degree than US law is.
- renaudg 7y agoEU law is proposed by the Commission, made up of appointed representatives of each member state's elected government. It's voted and amended by the directly elected members of the EU parliament. This is HN not the Daily Mail comments section, let's keep this space free of baseless europhobic disinformation.