A big part of the problem is democratic. There's nearly nonexistent political accountability in the EU. If the EU decides something, there's really no effecti

A big part of the problem is democratic. There's nearly nonexistent political accountability in the EU. If the EU decides something, there's really no effective way for its citizens to do anything about it even if it's a fairly unpopular change. There are too many layers of indirection between the elections and the decision making to hold the responsible politicians accountable to the voters. This in turn makes the EU extremely susceptible to lobbying from special interests inside and outside of Europe. More so than these campaigns, big reason why these laws have been hard to push through is probably Germany and their strong influence in the EU. Since the Germans still have a living memory of the DDR and the Stasi fallout made a significant impression in the public conscience, being seen as moving back in that direction is a really tough sell. 1984 is fiction, the east germans lived that shit.