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Critics say EU risks ceding control of its tech laws under U.S. pressure

politico.eu

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Re: Critics say EU risks ceding control of its tech laws under U.S. pressure

#11

Post by mono442 »

9dev wrote: post #6
mono442 wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Their policies are a grift to funnel money to the right people so that's not surprising.

Do you have anything to support that claim? Carbon taxes are a theoretically effective mechanism to tilt the markets towards more sustainable means of production, that is something most economists agree on; alas, practically they are often thwarted by caving out exceptions or delays for short-term political gain.

If most economists agree on something, it probably isn't true. Just like every economist agreed that there would be no inflation in 2020.

Re: Critics say EU risks ceding control of its tech laws under U.S. pressure

#12

Post by pzo »

mono442 wrote: post #2

[flagged]

everything is expensive worldwide more because of:

- decade of money printing (quantitive easing, covid, petro-dollar)

- decade of low interest rate free (created bubbles in stocks and assets)

- oil price increase (war in ukraine, war in iran)

as for EU climate rules this is IMHO still more a smoke screen - otherwise they wouldn't put tarriffs on chinese solar panels and EVs.

Re: Critics say EU risks ceding control of its tech laws under U.S. pressure

#15

Post by sam_lowry_ »

9dev wrote: post #6
mono442 wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Their policies are a grift to funnel money to the right people so that's not surprising.

Do you have anything to support that claim? Carbon taxes are a theoretically effective mechanism to tilt the markets towards more sustainable means of production, that is something most economists agree on; alas, practically they are often thwarted by caving out exceptions or delays for short-term political gain.

You probably mean carbon credits, from the EU Emissions Trading System. Wikipedia has a lengthy and well-balanced article on the subject: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union_Emissions_Tradi...

It's an ugly and wasteful system set up instead of other, simpler measure that were politically unacceptable at the time, like higher VAT, excise duties on all fossil fuels across all industries without exception, including fuel oil for heating and aviation fuel.

Re: Critics say EU risks ceding control of its tech laws under U.S. pressure

#16

Post by thfuran »

mono442 wrote: post #10
mcv wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They really should end fuel subsidies. We're paying taxes to promote fuel use. That's a really bad use of our taxes. (Some are apparently already being phased out, but others are not, from what I understand, and they've gone up dramatically in the past couple of years.) As for digital rules, the EU should definitely stand firm and invest in its own tech sector, instead of caving to the US. Same with everything else w…

There are no subsidies, gas and diesel are the most expensive in the world, and most of the cost is taxes. But apparently, for the EU politicians, that is still too cheap, so they want even more taxes on top of that.

https://www.eea.europa.eu/en/analysis/indicators/fossil-fuel...

Re: Critics say EU risks ceding control of its tech laws under U.S. pressure

#19

Post by SirHumphrey »

mono442 wrote: post #10
mcv wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They really should end fuel subsidies. We're paying taxes to promote fuel use. That's a really bad use of our taxes. (Some are apparently already being phased out, but others are not, from what I understand, and they've gone up dramatically in the past couple of years.) As for digital rules, the EU should definitely stand firm and invest in its own tech sector, instead of caving to the US. Same with everything else w…

There are no subsidies, gas and diesel are the most expensive in the world, and most of the cost is taxes. But apparently, for the EU politicians, that is still too cheap, so they want even more taxes on top of that.

You are thinking too logically. In EU fuel is expensive because it’s heavily taxed AND there are a lot of fuel subsidies.

Or to quote an old TV show: Hacker: One of your officials pays farmers to produce surplus food, while on the same floor, the next office is paying them to destroy the surpluses. Maurice: That is not true! Hacker: No? Maurice: He is not in the next office, not even on the same floor!

Re: Critics say EU risks ceding control of its tech laws under U.S. pressure

#20

Post by pjc50 »

thfuran wrote: post #16
mono442 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are no subsidies, gas and diesel are the most expensive in the world, and most of the cost is taxes. But apparently, for the EU politicians, that is still too cheap, so they want even more taxes on top of that.

https://www.eea.europa.eu/en/analysis/indicators/fossil-fuel...

> Notably, more than 60% of all fossil fuel subsidies granted in 2023 were spent in three countries: Germany (EUR 41 billion), Poland (EUR 16 billion), and France (EUR 15 billion).

This is another one of those cases where people say "Europe" when meaning something much more country specific.

I can't find any detailed breakdown of this; I'm guessing it's something to do with coal mining in Germany?

France has absolutely no excuse, though. Largest nuclear power generation in Europe and subsidizing fossil fuels? I bet it's something to do with farming.

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