this post was submitted on 03 Oct 2023
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USA government is just a puppet of lobbying groups IE: private companies. Thankfully Europe doesn't reach that level yet
“yet”.
I feel like we’re just one or two decades behind on … everything bad in the US.
I think it is much harder to lobby the EU due to it's structure. The EU is composed of many countries with distinct culture and objectives. The only way for everyone to agree on policies is compromise. This makes it much harder to successfully lobby..
If you lobby one political party in the EU successfully, you will only have about 2% of the votes Whereas in the US you have about 50% of the votes and of course you would focus on the party best placed to make the change.
Europe does still have issues with lobbies. In many of the individual countries the effectiveness of lobbying is comparable, and in some cases worse.
The best solution are anti-lobbying regulation, increased political engagement of the electorate, better journalism and proportionate representarion.
Oh yeah. We sure love to criticize and make fun of muricans, but we do the same, just a few years later.
EU is to ununified to be governed by lobbyists, also our courts work...
I think it is exactly the other way around. Companies are well-organized on the global level and can influence Brussels and national EU governments. See the latest Qatar scandal or the often cited cucumber regulations. However, in Europe, the social market orientation results in majorities favoring more government control. In contrast, the US often rejects such policies as "communism".
Maybe it's just me, but it seems that Lobbying isn't that big in Europe and several states have laws actively against the practice. Sure, corrupt politicians still exists, but they are more easily exposed under anti-corruption laws. Unlike in the USA where it's practically legalized bribery.
Why are there 25k lobbyists in Brussels then?
https://corporateeurope.org/en/lobbyplanet
Wat
The word you are looking for is corruption. It always gets mixed up with lobbying. Lobbying is not inherently bad. It is good practice to ask the people a law applies to, if the law is feasible. It helps to avoid passing laws, that are completely impracticable and destroy a whole sector of economy in the worst case.
I'd agree if there was a level playing field, but there isn't, those with the most money get the most influence. It is a form of corruption.
It's known as caviar diplomacy
https://www.politico.eu/newsletter/politico-eu-influence/azerbaijan-crisis-raises-fresh-scrutiny-over-eu-lobbying-battle-2/
No, that's just corruption, not lobbyism.
Lobbyism leads to corruption is my feeling
Those EU lobbyists have less capability. They cannot finance a campaign for a politician, can they?
The US has #CitizensUnited.
The US also has corporate lobbyists who use fraudulent techniques such as writing thousands of letters from fake people (they got caught doing this on the #netneutrality issue whereby Congress got thousands of letters appearing to be from individual human beings who all opposed network neutrality -- LOL). Are EU corporate lobbyists willing to partake in such blatant fraud?
Biggest lobby in the US → #NRA. The NRA owns about ½ the politicians. And since the NRA are right-wing extremists who work with #ALEC (right-wing lobby & bill mill), they push everything in favor of big corps and against human beings. They block progress.
Well, lobbyists don't fund campaigns, they seek to influence for cash.
There are loads of shady things going on in the EU agriculture sector, the US doesn't have a monopoly on shady lobbyists.
https://www.politico.eu/article/copa-cogeca-farmering-lobby-europe/
Pharma is by far the biggest spender on lobbying
https://www.statista.com/statistics/257364/top-lobbying-industries-in-the-us/
I don't know, why?
I never said it wasn't a thing, just that it's harder. Open secrets says that there are 12,000 on Washington D.C. alone. I'd guess there are many times more than those on every state, with the largest states having more. It's a global issue, that's not an argument.
It is big though.
What web of corporations wanted the House to lose its Speaker? The prospect of a shutdown deadline in forty days with a paralyzed House isn't exactly good for business.
Lobbying is a problem, but there are many other much deeper issues that cripple American democracy.
It does
https://www.etui.org/topics/health-safety-working-conditions/hesamag/work-related-cancer-emerging-from-obscurity/the-world-of-eu-lobbying-in-brussels