| It's not a question of importance. This just happens to be the history of the EU. I'm not saying it's good or bad. The EU kind of started as a single agricultural market. Instead of the weird (complicated, and corrupt) protectionist arms race that existed before was gradually replaced with a single agricultural policy with protection from competition outside the block. Fishing is also a big deal, even though it is economically tiny. Also, all the countries have an agri-food industry. Not many are likely to benefit from decreased competition vis-a-vis facebook. Brexit/Banking stuff has been an eye-opener. On the face of it, a big chunk of the London financial market is up for grabs. It has not been a negotiating priority though. The Netherlands, and to some extent Belgium and Germany would be the likely benefactors barriers, but for most countries it would just be a minor inconvenience. "Because more profits and taxes in Amsterdam" just isn't an operative reason for EU decisions, at least currently. I'm not sure if this is good or bad. Regardless of dealings with China, European regulations don't tend to incorporate things that would be inconceivable in the US... at least thus far. Breaking up or forcing the sale of a foreign media company was, until recently, out of the question. Now it's not. |
Totally agree to that. I think a lot of people who supported the ban here have no idea of what Pandora's box they opened.