What you are doing in this thread is the definition of spreading fear, uncertainty and doubt around the institution called "EU". I'm personally not against you doing just that. I'm just against you trying to call it something else.

Boiling down what you have actually said in this thread I'm left with "but the EU spends money on things that _I_ wouldn't have". Is that the gist of what you are trying to convey here? Or are you opposed to EU as a concept?

So, cucumber regulation seems very silly indeed. Hopefully we have gotten to the stuff that matters now.

Voicing a opinion is not spread fear. Jesus, sometimes HN is worse than 1984.

Voicing an opinion that announces the downfall of a large collective of states is spreading fear though. Maybe you're right and we're heading into a scary future, but it doesn't change that expressing that opinion is spreading fear.

Don't get me wrong, you have the right to express that opinion - but everyone has the right to form an opinion about you based on it.

So, correct me if I'm wrong, you are saying that

- opinions are never the equivalent of spreading FUD

- classifying an opinion as FUD is a slippery slope that will lead to an Orwellian dystropy

Here's an opinion:

- Linux is a terrible operating system, because it is open-source. Open-source software does not allow you to capitalize on the work you put down. Anarchy will arise when all software is open-source.

And do you know why that happened? Ever considered the reason?

Just like cameras had a megapixel war, vacuums had a power war. In reading electricity consumption without increasing actual air throughput.

At its height there were 3500W vacuums with less than 10% effectivity. Billions of euros every year were wasted on electricity for this.

Just like the laws encouraging LEDs, the vacuum laws had a major effect, manufacturers could easily switch to brushless motors and did.

I have a vacuum from before and after the regulation here.

2400W vs 900W.

The 900W one creates a stronger vacuum than the 2400W one.

The regulation has not just been necessary, it's also been an amazing success.

Every European saves money on electricity, the environment is damaged less and we have more efficient and powerful vacuums.

And similar with the incandescent light ban. It led manufacturers to new innovation, which in turn meant LEDs quickly became popular and over the years better.

By now 1200lm 8W E27 leds are in every IKEA for 10€.

As a result of these two policies electricity usage could be significantly reduced, helping the environment and your electricity costs.

There's absolutely no way you can declare these policies a failure.

Just like the cucumber regulation, which, after it ended, stores started enforcing on their own, because they need that regulation.

Its funny that you mention the light bulbs. Actually, the EU did NOT encourage LED light bulbs for the longest time.

You may recall that they banned some conventional wolfram based light bulbs and instead tried to force compact fluorescent lamps (CFL) to the consumer, not LEDs. This has actually lead to a huge recycling problem. The CFLs contain mercury, the plastic parts are hard to recycle and the glass can not be recycled because it is contaminated.

Its not EU regulation that made the LEDs popular, it was consumer demand.

What actually happened was that they set a minimum efficiency for lightbulbs, which tungsten bulbs didn't meet, but CFLs (and some halogens) did. LED bulbs weren't quite ready for prime time at that point.

They actually did the most sensible thing possible. They set a target efficiency, and let the manufacturers figure out which technology to use in order to meet those requirements. The alternative would have been to make a specific energy-efficient technology mandatory, which would have unfairly benefited manufacturers focusing on that specific technology, and would have made the law outdated when a better technology inevitably comes along.

Nobody forced CFLs on people. They were simply the best option at that time, until LED bulbs improved.

And in my family we didn't buy CFLs as response to the law, instead we bought LEDs from day one. At first they were quite bad and expensive, but due to the demand, over time, they significantly improved.

It was absolutely possible.

Do you even remember what LED bulbs were like when the traditional bulbs went the way of the dodo? The reason CFLs were popular wasn't that the EU mandated them, it was that LED bulbs at the time were utter rubbish. If anything the ban increased a demand for proper LED lighting. If everyone was still happily using tungsten I doubt we'd have anywhere near the range of quality LED lighting we have today.