We ended up being the only committed nation block (whatever) while anyone else (namely China, India and the USA) kept doing little or nothing, token contributions if any, but few long run plans like we did.

If the EU played it that way on every issue, it would be a much shittier place to live.

A great example is the worker protections many of us enjoy here. We could be more competitive with shittier countries on that front and drive down worker benefits and quality of life, but who wants to live like the working class in China or even a lot of the US? It's god awful. Doing all your policy based on the desires of industry is a recipe for dystopia.