Buy European: EU Commissions New Apply AI Strategy Launched • Hacker News Board

Re: Buy European: EU Commissions New Apply AI Strategy Launched

#51

Post by piva00 » Wed, Oct 08, 2025, 12:19 PM UTC

rangestransform wrote: post #37

sofixa wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Everything in EU is overpriced and worse than things coming from outside the EU, and that is by design If nothing else, Airbus says hello and laughs in your face. Throw in Spotify and IKEA, the majority of the world's luxury sector, a decent portion of the world's biggest car manufacturers, ASML, and you're just being silly.

Selling status to Americans and Chinese who have contribute actual productive industries is hardly an achievement

Selling medicines, and biotech is quite a productive industry where European companies are leaders. The same for high-precision machinery used by the "actual productive industries" that depend on European machines to be able to even have factories with assembly lines, chemical reactors, etc.

It's almost like people taking these jabs don't understand comparative advantages, and are also blind to the economical output of Europe in general...

Re: Buy European: EU Commissions New Apply AI Strategy Launched

#52

Post by devjab » Wed, Oct 08, 2025, 12:25 PM UTC

CalRobert wrote: post #24

devjab wrote: post #8

Regardless of how you view the current political climate in USA, it's simply become a major risk-management factor for almost any European organisation. We're heavily invested into Azure, but we've had to work out plans on how we could potentially exit within 30 days because we're part of the European energy sector. (We're really part of the global energy sector, but we're based in the EU.) We still view US tech comp…

How do people who don't have a smartphone (they still exist!) manage without digital ID? Is there no analog fallback?

Even though it's the same app and ID, there is a bit of a difference between the company ID tied to my digital ID and my private digital ID. You can get a physical code thingie instead of the phone app for private use. To be honest though, the primary reason I have a smartphone is that it's annoying if you don't. Banking, contacting the doctor, buying medicine, dealing with your childrens school, going to the library and so on are all super annoying without apps, and you can't get them without Google Play or Apple.

Re: Buy European: EU Commissions New Apply AI Strategy Launched

#53

Post by graemep » Wed, Oct 08, 2025, 12:39 PM UTC

piva00 wrote: post #48

flanked-evergl wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who lives in Europe and buys things in Europe every single day, I know that practically everything except groceries comes from China. But sure, whenever I buy a plate from IKEA it comes from Turkey and not China. But I guess if I were a rich person who mostly bought luxury goods, they would come from France. I guess I'm the problem. If only my tax money stayed with me instead of being funnelled to useless…

Everyone in the world buys things made in China everyday, it's the largest manufacturing country in the world, that's a non-sequitur. At the same time there are plenty of everyday items still made in the EU, and not necessarily luxury goods. My pets' leashes are made in Germany, my kitchen knives are made in Germany, my pots and pans are made in Sweden, Denmark, and Germany. My drinking glasses are made in France, an…

Also think about non-consumer items and expensive items such as cars.

Even with consumer items the keyboard I am typing this on says "made in the Czech Republic" on the bottom. I definitely have lots of things made in Germany, Taiwan, France, the US, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Vietnam etc.

People in the UK keep saying "we do not make anything anymore" but in fact lots of things, cars (often foreign brands, but still made here) and car parts, medicines, chemical, medical equipment, jet engines, satellites..... those are just off the top of my head.

Re: Buy European: EU Commissions New Apply AI Strategy Launched

#54

Post by graemep » Wed, Oct 08, 2025, 12:42 PM UTC

piva00 wrote: post #51

rangestransform wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Selling status to Americans and Chinese who have contribute actual productive industries is hardly an achievement

Selling medicines, and biotech is quite a productive industry where European companies are leaders. The same for high-precision machinery used by the "actual productive industries" that depend on European machines to be able to even have factories with assembly lines, chemical reactors, etc. It's almost like people taking these jabs don't understand comparative advantages, and are also blind to the economical output…

Very few people understand comparative advantage.

Almost every conversation i have about international trade with anyone without some sort of economics background illustrates this.

Re: Buy European: EU Commissions New Apply AI Strategy Launched

#55

Post by CalRobert » Wed, Oct 08, 2025, 12:48 PM UTC

stefanfisk wrote: post #35

CalRobert wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do people who don't have a smartphone (they still exist!) manage without digital ID? Is there no analog fallback?

In Sweden you can technically get by with only a psychical ID. But even now when the number of people that only have a physical ID is low getting things done can be hard. Suddenly switching to physical ID only on asocialt wide basis would be comparable to going from almost exclusively shopping online to in-store cash only.

Given that the EU is encouraging disaster preparedness and handling things like extended power outages I really hope they don't make it impossible to function without a charged phone.

Re: Buy European: EU Commissions New Apply AI Strategy Launched

#56

Post by CalRobert » Wed, Oct 08, 2025, 12:48 PM UTC

devjab wrote: post #52

CalRobert wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do people who don't have a smartphone (they still exist!) manage without digital ID? Is there no analog fallback?

Even though it's the same app and ID, there is a bit of a difference between the company ID tied to my digital ID and my private digital ID. You can get a physical code thingie instead of the phone app for private use. To be honest though, the primary reason I have a smartphone is that it's annoying if you don't. Banking, contacting the doctor, buying medicine, dealing with your childrens school, going to the library…

I agree it's annoying, and even though I have a smartphone, I'm annoyed. My kids' school uses a tool that has a web UI but I wonder how long that will last.

Re: Buy European: EU Commissions New Apply AI Strategy Launched

#57

Post by graemep » Wed, Oct 08, 2025, 12:50 PM UTC

ashwoods wrote: post #21

naldb wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Spain there are half a million more people living off the government than those working in the private sector: https://theobjective.com/economia/macroeconomia/2024-09-16/a...

I think this comment is, while factual, slightly misleading. Only around 16% of people "living off the government" are public servants, from which over 50% are for essential services like education health or public safety. Over 50% of those "living off the government" are pensioners, so mostly coming from a pool of people who already worked (and most of them in the private sector), and paid their share in taxes. In s…

If pensions come from government funds it matters if you are looking at the impact on the economy. The taxes pensioners paid have presumably been spent, so while their past contribution is an argument for their entitlement to pensions, it does not solve the problem of where the money will come from.

Its even worse in the UK where we have a special additional income tax (NI) on earned income (things like investment income are exempt), that is higher on people with low to moderate incomes, that is primarily used to pay (current) pensions (a little bit is set aside for future pensions, but there is only enough set aside for less an an year of payments).

Re: Buy European: EU Commissions New Apply AI Strategy Launched

#58

Post by piva00 » Wed, Oct 08, 2025, 1:00 PM UTC

graemep wrote: post #53

piva00 wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone in the world buys things made in China everyday, it's the largest manufacturing country in the world, that's a non-sequitur. At the same time there are plenty of everyday items still made in the EU, and not necessarily luxury goods. My pets' leashes are made in Germany, my kitchen knives are made in Germany, my pots and pans are made in Sweden, Denmark, and Germany. My drinking glasses are made in France, an…

Also think about non-consumer items and expensive items such as cars. Even with consumer items the keyboard I am typing this on says "made in the Czech Republic" on the bottom. I definitely have lots of things made in Germany, Taiwan, France, the US, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Vietnam etc. People in the UK keep saying "we do not make anything anymore" but in fact lots of things, cars (often foreign brands, but still made h…

I didn't mention non-consumer items because OP was complaining about only buying items "made in China".

For non-consumer items there's a whole laundry list of high-tech stuff where Europe has a big presence: high-end chemical reactors, high-precision machinery, chip manufacturing machines (not only ASML but also probe cards, vacuum valves/pumps), off-shore wind turbines (including HV submarine lines for transmission), aseptic packaging for food (Tetra Pak, SIG), and lots more.

People only look at the brands they recognise without understanding there's a whole lots of standing-on-the-shoulders-of-giants going on in the supply chain so Apple can manufacture an iPhone in China using technology from all across the globe, a lot of it from Europe. That laser cutter doing precision metalwork on phones, or cars? Probably German or Swiss...

It's not flashy but there's actually very important technology that is developed, and made in Europe.

Re: Buy European: EU Commissions New Apply AI Strategy Launched

#59

Post by sofixa » Wed, Oct 08, 2025, 3:05 PM UTC

graemep wrote: post #49

sofixa wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> My problem with the EU overall, aside from being inefficient, is that they don't really push towards intrinsic perfection. They kind of look what others do, try to simulate and copy it, usually fail - and then the same pattern is repeated There is literally a term for when EU mandates result in global change, "the Brussels effect". Also, it's a bit weird to claim the EU never tries to push for perfection and just c…

> Also, it's a bit weird to claim the EU never tries to push for perfection and just copies - this is the organisation that brought us USB C as the one and only standard for everything Not the same as inventing USB, and I am far from sure its a good thing. > he right to be forgotten and the right to digital privacy Right to privacy in various forms far predates the EU. > competition on railway networks EU-wide A copy…

> and I am far from sure its a good thing.

Why? It's good for consumers (more practical) and the planet (less ewaste).

> Right to privacy in various forms far predates the EU.

Online? As a concept yes, but as a legal framework, not really.

> A copy of a policy of a country that has left the EU, and is far from popular there, and looks like being reversed there.

The UK system isn't actual competition though. There are concession that get local monopolies. So for the vast majority of trips, there is one private company that operates these trains on that route. It's the worst of all worlds. In the EU, anyone can start operating on any route.

> The US was very good at that historically, and there are plenty of regulators around the world with the same concerns.

And which one has done anything? The only recent one I recall is the UK's blocking Faceboo's acquisition of Giphy.

Re: Buy European: EU Commissions New Apply AI Strategy Launched

#60

Post by Epa095 » Wed, Oct 08, 2025, 3:35 PM UTC

graemep wrote: post #57

ashwoods wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this comment is, while factual, slightly misleading. Only around 16% of people "living off the government" are public servants, from which over 50% are for essential services like education health or public safety. Over 50% of those "living off the government" are pensioners, so mostly coming from a pool of people who already worked (and most of them in the private sector), and paid their share in taxes. In s…

If pensions come from government funds it matters if you are looking at the impact on the economy. The taxes pensioners paid have presumably been spent, so while their past contribution is an argument for their entitlement to pensions, it does not solve the problem of where the money will come from. Its even worse in the UK where we have a special additional income tax (NI) on earned income (things like investment in…

It does not really make a big difference if the pensioner saved 100k while working and put it in their couch, or if they payed it in ekstra taxes which got saved by the government, or if the government presses new money.

The important part is how large fraction of the population work, not where the money for the remaining fraction comes from. Money is only a representation of value, value created by the working fraction.