[Spagbol]

As a consumer outside the EU, I honestly appreciate much of the effect it has done for my everyday life: -the USB-C standard chips away at Apple's proprietary walled garden, which I see as a win for consumers and the environment, and personally I like the simplicity of having one useful standard cable. The other day I charged the iPhone of a person on the train who needed a charge; in the past they were out of luck because I use an android phone. -their cookie directive isn't perfect, but I prefer it to the previous status quo of websites tracking with your average user completely unaware of the vast network of the "partners" privy to their data by default. For me, clicking "reject all" or just leaving those websites altogether is not a big issue. -their restrictions on single use plastics have cascading effects outside the EU -the fining of huge tech conglomeretes for anti-consumer behaviour with GDPR fines (Meta, Amazon, Google, etc.) provides at least some roadblock to their behaviour in my view.

Most of the comments seem to focus on the effect of their policies on smaller scale startups and entrepreneurs, which may certainly be a problem to adress, but as a consumer I see the EU at least taking some action on issues I care about.