If you conclude from this thread that I am a weird EU policy nerd, you are absolutely right. I think that sharing and explaining how the sausage factory works is extremely important. "The EU" is not some monolithic black box. It is run by people that in my experience really want to do The Right Thing for all EU citizens and they are really open for input and they do listen. So when you communicate with them in respectful ways with consistent and realistic demands, you can move mountains!