«The European Union is one of the largest and richest consumer markets. And few global companies can afford not to do business in the EU», says Anu Bradford, a specialist in global economics and digital regulation, who coined the term ‘Brussels Effect’ to describe Europe's influence on global markets.

In this «It's not that simple» interview, the author of The Brussels Effect: How the European Union Rules the World - considered one of the best books of 2020 by Foreign Affairs magazine - explains that despite the dispute between the US and China over influence on how various industries (including technology) operate, it's still Europe that sets the rules of this chess.

Paradigmatic are the strict regulations imposed by the EU, which end up becoming the global standard, influencing companies in other countries to adopt them in order to succeed in the coveted European market. Anu Bradford argues that «global companies like uniformity» and it's in Europe that they find the standard. The expert uses the car industry as an example, pointing out that [manufacturers] don't want to have several different production lines to produce cars for each market.

The «Brussels Effect» extends to multiple concerns that are the order of the day, such as issues of environmental protection or data privacy with the development of technology, including Artificial Intelligence.

For the Columbia Law School professor, stricter European environmental standards and legislation protecting personal data show how Europe has responded positively to current challenges.

But could this undermine Europe's competitiveness? And could it stifle the development of the technological sector? Bradford thinks not, but she also believes that the European Union still has much to learn from how other powers handle, for example, failure.

With the elections to the European Parliament just around the corner, Anu Bradford talks about the problems of today and those that lie ahead. «We will see in the long term that the path europeans have set themselves consists mainly of making the right choices», she says. However, she warns that future decisions must guarantee «not only the well-being, but also the fundamental safety and security of Europeans».

More on this topic
Institute of International and European Affairs interview about the book The Brussels Effect: How the European Union Rules the World

Digital Empires: The Global Battle to Regulate Technology, with Anu Bradford
Podcast episode: International Law Behind the Headlines
Tech Policy.Press interview

Anu Bradford's X (Twitter) 

Anu Bradford's LinkedIn