It most certainly is not the best game in town (of democracies). All the scariest mass surveillance laws are deliberated and passed in Europe, such as the Online Safety Act in the UK and currently seeing a record number of countries supporting is Chat Control which was proposed by a shadow group whose identities are unknown.

Much of what the EU (now speaking EU not Europe) does is deliberated behind closed doors, without any transparency to those outside.

I live here, and it is extremely scary where we are all going.

> It most certainly is not the best game in town (of democracies).

Where are you claiming is better then?

The problems you point to are real and concerning. I'm still very glad to have an alternative to the US and China.