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The Future of European Competitiveness

commission.europa.eu

81–90 of 129 posts

Re: The Future of European Competitiveness

#81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We can't defend ourselves, our economies are de-industrializing, we have right and left radical taking over political spectrum all the while our pension and healthcare systems are moving ever closer to a breaking point. Other than the defense part, the same could be said for the US.

The US has very rosy economic future projections compared to Europe, and frankly the rest of the world. Don't be fooled by sensational headlines and chronically online college kids complaining.

Rosy in comparison to the rest of the world - maybe

Rosy in comparison to 1976~2000 - no

I'm under the impression it's been (sort of) proven (but I have no source) that the major reason for 'college kids complaining' is precisely because of the perceived loss in quality of life, purchasing power and access to {healtchare, safety, community, third spaces} when compared to prior generations

Re: The Future of European Competitiveness

#83
post #5

> Europe largely missed out on the digital revolution led by the internet and the productivity gains it brought: in fact, the productivity gap between the EU and the US is largely explained by the tech sector. The EU is weak in the emerging technologies that will drive future growth. Only four of the world’s top 50 tech companies are European. > Europe is stuck in a static industrial structure with few new companies…

Another point to consider: what happened to Telegram's CEO? Pavel Durov was arrested because he didn't police his platform sufficiently or whatever, or so France claims. That alone is unsettling. It's been discussed among techies on Twitter. Why would anyone smart enough to create something want to start a company in the EU? Why risk your neck to start a startup in such an environment?

Take your populist desinformation and Russian propaganda somewhere else...

Telegrams CEO was arrested because the company didn't properly cooperate with law enforcement. Every democratic first-world country would have done the same.

Re: The Future of European Competitiveness

#84
I'm reading the document a bit different. It is not so much about lack of competitiveness as it is about centralizing policy making and power in the EU organization, aka "all problems can be solved by giving EU institutions dictorial power over everything".

E.g. making sure all military purchases are done centrally (aka EU army).

All the text about GDP, R&D and AI is just window dressing for this goal.

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The summary on page 2 give the reasons: 1) Lack of focus (regulatory burdens + single market not implemented fully), 2) (military) spending power not made centrally, 3) policies are too cordinated and should be set top-down instead for quicker decisions.

The details on page 11 argue: 1) energy prices too high (doesn't specify why this is important in high-tech production and if this is a problem for all the datacenters in EU, just states it as a fact) 2) "pipeline from innovation to commercialisation" doesn't work 3) reduce supply line dependency from countries outside EU.

Page 12 says it almost directly: "To move forward, Europe must act as a Union in a way it never has before". I.e. EU should no longer be a union of countries but be more like union of states, likely even less power than the states in the US.

Page 21 (and 27-30) talks about AI as a silver bullet that will magically improve car production etc.

While it talks about reducing regulatory burden, it completely overlooks how difficult it is to find out what laws applies to a given area. Lack of transparency is a huge overhead.

It also thinks that patents and revenue sharing with researches will increase innovation while completely ignoring how research is hampered by "publish or perish".

It should talk about how to get Germany to invest in better internet connections for homes and how to modernize hospitals etc so the no longer use FAX machines.

Re: The Future of European Competitiveness

#85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the defense issue, I don’t really see where the threat would come from. Russia isn’t in such a great place militarily either. It would be incredibly culturally strange for China to invade that far away and I don’t know that their military is configured for that anyway. They may influence and sabotage but would never attack Europe militarily IMO. Middle East and North Africa states don’t pose much of a threat still…

> Who does that leave to defend against? Maybe the criminal gangs, who already have capacity rivaling and sometimes surpassing European governments? Or maybe killing, gang raping, shooting, bombing and looting is not an actual military conflict, because the soldiers don't wear uniforms, and thus nothing for the busy Europeans to mind.

Those are big problems, but the issue is a lack of will, not a lack of military strength. If the will situation changed those threats could be gone within a week.

Re: The Future of European Competitiveness

#86
post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And who elects those politicians? For the most part other politicians. A vote of a constituent every few years means very little, you don't even know for sure who gets to be a MEP, you give a "preference". For the remaining time EU politicians do whatever they want and you are just expected to take it. And if your country doesn't want to, they give you a penalty.

And that differs how from some national systems? How can the Commission do whatever it takes when the Council is the senior part of the executive when it comes to outlining policies and countries enjoy veto rights on a variety of things there (and can even leave the EU)?

The way the EU differs from national systems in that the EU is compartmentalized. The different languages and cultures mean that ideas, information, and politics doesn't flow freely. If you care about a specific policy then not only do you have to convince all the voters in your country, but you'll have to convince people in a dozen other countries that speak entirely different languages too.

Compartmentalization like this also allows some influence to spread more than it would in a unified information space. It's possible for a larger country to convince a smaller one to side with them on an EU level issue, while "paying" for it on a national level.

I think that because of these barriers it makes sense that a lot of European voters feel entirely disconnected from EU level politics. It's preteen met with an attitude of "Brussels decided that we must jump, so we jump." It's reminiscent of the Soviet times with "Moscow decided". (Not in the decisions itself, but people's attitudes.)

Re: The Future of European Competitiveness

#87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Life expectancy? Happiness? https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2016/02/25/happines...

Try to talk to people instead of relying on some abstract numbers. "Yeah I'm so happy I have a job paying 500 USD per month, and I am so happy my 1.5-room flat rent is just 350" is a very common thing to hear where I live. The tax rate is 35% btw. Also, try to find newer statistics at least. 2016 was around the local maxima, everything went to shit - very noticeably - during and after covid.

> Try to talk to people instead of relying on some abstract numbers.

Because anecdotal evidence is better than empirically researched data? LOL

Re: The Future of European Competitiveness

#88
post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And that differs how from some national systems? How can the Commission do whatever it takes when the Council is the senior part of the executive when it comes to outlining policies and countries enjoy veto rights on a variety of things there (and can even leave the EU)?

The way the EU differs from national systems in that the EU is compartmentalized. The different languages and cultures mean that ideas, information, and politics doesn't flow freely. If you care about a specific policy then not only do you have to convince all the voters in your country, but you'll have to convince people in a dozen other countries that speak entirely different languages too. Compartmentalization lik…

The EU is also not a nation but only a supranational organization, so it shares that with other such organizations. But that aside, is that actually true for policymaking that it needs a lot of countries or for a lot things other countries don't care, i.e., small, focused minorities can enact things (not unlike most democracies)?

Re: The Future of European Competitiveness

#89
post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US has very rosy economic future projections compared to Europe, and frankly the rest of the world. Don't be fooled by sensational headlines and chronically online college kids complaining.

Rosy in comparison to the rest of the world - maybe Rosy in comparison to 1976~2000 - no I'm under the impression it's been (sort of) proven (but I have no source) that the major reason for 'college kids complaining' is precisely because of the perceived loss in quality of life, purchasing power and access to {healtchare, safety, community, third spaces} when compared to prior generations

I'm glad you mentioned 'perceived' loss in quality of life. I think that is what is being argued, does the perception meet the reality?

It could be that the major reason for 'college kids perception of loss in quality of life' is that the rise of ad-driven media, as opposed to the previous generation's subscription model, leads to more sensationalized news to drive clicks. Combine that with online forums (echo chambers) that make it easier to complain to a sympathetic audience. College kids are also more susceptible to recency bias, they didn't live through previous times of uncertainty and have no memories of cold wars or the turbulence that previous generations lived through.

Re: The Future of European Competitiveness

#90
post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Try to talk to people instead of relying on some abstract numbers. "Yeah I'm so happy I have a job paying 500 USD per month, and I am so happy my 1.5-room flat rent is just 350" is a very common thing to hear where I live. The tax rate is 35% btw. Also, try to find newer statistics at least. 2016 was around the local maxima, everything went to shit - very noticeably - during and after covid.

> Try to talk to people instead of relying on some abstract numbers. Because anecdotal evidence is better than empirically researched data? LOL

Empirically researched data would be better - if people went and read the study in detail and saw that the questions asked don't lead to the conclusion that they claim, such as this case. They read a headline or check a sheet of numbers and think they understand the world.

Since people are apparently unable to do that, talking to people is the next best thing.

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