Comment by myrmidon

Comment by myrmidon 2 hours ago

I'm not a fan of her either, but what do you actually expect?

Politicians are not generally domain specialists anywhere, their purpose is to make decisions and serve as a pretty face for some more or less coherent policy.

Lobbyism is very easy to complain about and can easily devolve into corruption, but it has a very clear purpose: To prevent policymakers from writing regulations that harm the affected industries without gain. This is especially necessary at the EU level, because the main purpose of that whole organisation is to lower trade barriers and regulatory friction-- lobbyists are somewhat helpful and necessary in that.

> I think the whole EU should be reformed

What would you suggest?

sam_lowry_ 2 hours ago

> What would you suggest?

Lenin once said that "Every cook should learn to govern the state."

And that's how we should do it. Random lottery, pretty much the same way we choose election assessors or jury members.

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tremon 2 hours ago

To prevent policymakers from writing regulations that harm the affected industries without gain

But where are the lobbyists that prevent policymakers from writing regulations that harm the affected citizens? Are they not entitled to adequate representation?

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myrmidon an hour ago

> where are the lobbyists that prevent policymakers from writing regulations that harm the affected citizens
Voting is there to keep incentives aligned with the population at large.
On specific issues, lobbying is also feasible for non-corporate entities; consider right-to-repair initiatives or pro-climate NGOs.

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gizajob 2 hours ago

Could start by not having an unelected president who thinks she’s the queen of the continent.

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zwnow 2 hours ago

> To prevent policymakers from writing regulations that harm the affected industries without gain.

Industries that cant comply to modern standards should be harmed. We dont need industries willing to pay lobbyists to keep fossil fuels alive for example.

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myrmidon 2 hours ago

> Industries that cant comply to modern standards should be harmed.
Those "modern standards" need to be codified into law, and feedback from established companies is valuable for doing that.
> We dont need industries willing to pay lobbyists to keep fossil fuels alive for example.
Those lobbyists represent the interests of a good portion of the economy. If you disregard their feedback, your risk damaging/destabilizing your economy for unclear gain, and the resulting backlash is going to more than undo any progress you made anyway.

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- LunaSea 2 hours ago
  
  > [...] feedback from established companies is valuable for doing that.
  This is exactly what led us to fall behind in electric car development and construction.
  It's the "unreasonable" rules that were unilaterally implemented that made car companies panic and finally start competing.
  > Those lobbyists represent the interests of a good portion of the economy
  No, they represent the interests of a few shareholders.
  
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  myrmidon an hour ago
  
  > It's the "unreasonable" rules that were unilaterally implemented that made car companies panic and finally start competing.
  I believe the margin for effective regulation is much smaller than you think.
  Sure, the EU could've mandated zero-emission vehicles from 2020 on in, say, 2010. But what would have happened? Carmakers would have made giant losses because their production facilities become worthless overnight (and laid off swathes of people); prices for vehicles and transport would've invariably gone through the roof and it is quite likely that the whole industry would have picked the "wrong" technology to bet on, like fuel cells, synthetic fuel or even hydrogen combustion.
  Compare how much pushback you get in the general population against costly pro-climate policy already (very important to look past your own bubble on this!) and it seems clear to me that this would have failed competely (doing great economical damage, possibly a full-blown crisis), and would have probably been rolled back by the next election at the latest.
  
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g-b-r 2 hours ago

> Lobbyism is very easy to complain about and can easily devolve into corruption, but it has a very clear purpose: To prevent policymakers from writing regulations that harm the affected industries without gain.

Industries are not the only thing affected by policy, citizens are affected too.

Not harming industries often means harming normal people, and industries have a much stronger lobbying power than normal people,

Lobbying could be ok if every interaction with politicians were recorded and public, and if the money you have wouldn't matter on how easily you can reach the lawmakers.

If lobbying were illegal, lawmakers could inform their decisions by turning to independent experts, who provide some slightly more impartial information

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andrepd 2 hours ago

The case of the EU Commissioner is particularly grating because she leads 500 million people without ever being subjected to an election.

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