I mean, the commission said it "intends to accept". Given the EC's legendary lightning-fast speed, that presumably puts the timeline long after ol' minihands is out of office, and thus irrelevant.

Even when the EC actually _wants_ to do something, it typically struggles to get it done in under a decade.

> long after ol' minihands is out of office

The EC is not that slow when it comes to the American trade wars. The timeline suddenly shrinks to months instead of years because this stuff could majorly disrupt the economy (and safety) across the European continent.

The EC may not fear the (mostly disinterested) European citizen body, but it does fear immediate actions by world powers.