Now, the EU itself needs some reforms badly, namely, as Draghi report suggests, relaxing the regulation, but there seems no political will to do that. At least, last time I’ve checked I have still seen those annoying “accept cookies” banners alive and kicking.
This is not true; there is a lot of political will for deregulation and simplification (see e.g. here). Everyone is talking about it in Brussels.
I assume the point about “accept cookies” banners was a joke, but just in case it wasn’t: it takes time for regulations to be changed, so the fact that we still see the “accept cookies” banners offers no evidence that the EU is not taking deregulation seriously (another question is, if getting rid of those banners or other GDPR rules would boost competitiveness; I suspect it won’t).
Also, IMO the most important reforms we need are not about regulation, but about harmonizing standards across the EU and creating a true single market.
As for the regulations, I am an outsider, but the noises from Brussels feel quite ambiguous to me. I’ll believe it once I see it.
As for the cookie banners, those probably have close to zero economic impact, but frankly, it’s a terrible and at the same time highly visible PR for the EU.
This is not true; there is a lot of political will for deregulation and simplification (see e.g. here). Everyone is talking about it in Brussels.
I assume the point about “accept cookies” banners was a joke, but just in case it wasn’t: it takes time for regulations to be changed, so the fact that we still see the “accept cookies” banners offers no evidence that the EU is not taking deregulation seriously (another question is, if getting rid of those banners or other GDPR rules would boost competitiveness; I suspect it won’t).
Also, IMO the most important reforms we need are not about regulation, but about harmonizing standards across the EU and creating a true single market.
True about the single market. Luis Garicano had a nice blog post about those problems recently: https://www.siliconcontinent.com/p/the-myth-of-the-single-market
As for the regulations, I am an outsider, but the noises from Brussels feel quite ambiguous to me. I’ll believe it once I see it.
As for the cookie banners, those probably have close to zero economic impact, but frankly, it’s a terrible and at the same time highly visible PR for the EU.