“but they're so unwilling to actually effect positive change in the world by using their position as a unified region”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Data_Protection_Regula..., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restriction_of_Hazardous_Subst... (Both examples of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brussels_effect)

Thing is: if the long term necessity for increased production of N95 masks were a no-brainer, companies would commit to building facilities. If governments subsidized producers, and it turns out we end up with more masks then we need, people would accuse them of wasting taxpayer money. Making that call is hard, as companies are ramping up production and articles such as the one being discussed could mean much fewer masks are needed.

Also, it seems at least Germany is working on this. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-europe...:

“Germany has said it will foot 30% of the investment bill for companies that manage to get production of the coveted filter fabric started before year-end”