I don't think it gets hugely better when you look at the EU. I mean, maybe it becomes possible to say some things as an EU citizen, but the differences between

I don't think it gets hugely better when you look at the EU. I mean, maybe it becomes possible to say some things as an EU citizen, but the differences between governance and politics in Sweden and Bulgaria are significant. Private prisons are certainly available in the (current and recent) EU. (Literal, not merely "ad") corruption is barely hidden in the east, and certainly present in the west. Indeed, an American could easily react with a measure of shock about how little Europeans care about how important a free press is to sustained democracy. The EU does stuff, but it is far more interested in a being a trade block than a protector of liberal democracy.