December 4, 2025
Lawvengers: Infinity Drafts
Brussels writes so many laws
Brussels is a law machine — commenters cheer, panic, and meme
TLDR: The EU churned out about 13,000 laws since 2019, often via private, overnight ‘trilogue’ deals like the 38‑hour AI Act marathon. Comments split between “more laws = more democracy,” warnings to flee Europe, and skeptics arguing volume isn’t productivity—raising real questions about speed, transparency, and who holds the pen.
Brussels is out here writing laws like it’s a content farm: between 2019 and 2024 the European Union pushed out around 13,000 acts — about seven a day — while the U.S. managed roughly 3,500 laws and 2,000 resolutions. The comment section split into loud camps. Team More Laws cheered, “more laws = more democracy!” while Team Make It Stop yelled, “leave Europe before it’s too late.” In between, Team Skeptic asked whether raw volume equals actual progress.
Readers latched onto the article’s wild behind‑the‑scenes: the European Commission’s budget is tiny, so policy basically means legislation, and everyone climbs the career ladder by passing more rules. Then there are the shadowy “trilogues,” those private, marathon bargaining sessions where Parliament, Council, and Commission hammer out compromises. The final meeting for the AI Act reportedly lasted 38 hours. Cue memes of sleep‑deprived officials signing off clauses at 4 a.m.
Drama escalated with jokes that Brussels is “LARPing as lawmakers” to justify “abundant pay and perks,” while others warned that late‑night drafting lets the Commission, the “pen‑holder,” subtly steer outcomes. One thoughtful voice paraphrased the incentives: in Brussels, careers grow by making new rules, not vetoing them. The crowd? Impressed, alarmed, and entertained.
Key Points
- •Between 2019 and 2024, the EU passed about 13,000 acts, roughly seven per day, despite broad and diverse governing coalitions.
- •EU institutions are incentivized to produce legislation: the Commission’s small budget makes policy synonymous with lawmaking, expanding its competences and resources.
- •The traditional public legislative process (Commission proposal, Parliament amendment, Council review) was slow, with multiple readings and joint committees.
- •The Amsterdam Treaty (1999) enabled First Reading adoptions, and after the 2008 financial crisis the EU prioritized speed, reducing reliance on sequential public readings.
- •Informal trilogues (since 2007) allow private negotiations with the Commission as pen‑holder; marathon sessions like the 38‑hour AI Act meeting can lead to drafting errors.