It doesn’t work to make anything a better place. It just acts defensively where its opponents have advantage and offensively where they have disadvantage.
Let’s please remember that the EU is bigger in population and potential than either of these two, but weaker in assets. It’s interested in stalling them in key areas, not actively engaging.
Returning to better places, the EU is working with pretty disgusting regimes.
GDPR etc. are the tip of the iceberg when it comes to EU regulations. Plenty of them apply to stuff where the EU is world-leading, also very far-reaching ones. Compared to REACH, GDPR is quite low-impact indeed.
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