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EU chief opens door for Canada to become 'associate member'

bbc.com

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Re: EU chief opens door for Canada to become 'associate member'

#521

Post by strictnein »

mitxela wrote: post #464
strictnein wrote: post #407

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The majority of US voters do not like the guy. 58.1% disapproval, 38.6% approval.

The votes consistently tell a different story.

Voting for someone and liking someone aren't synonyms. You claimed one thing, now you're saying something else.

In 2024, if the Dems just had a normal primary they would have won. But they consistently lied to people about what they were seeing with their own eyes (Biden's obvious lack of mental acuity), which people find really insulting, and then forced in a weak candidate.

To clarify, since this is the Internet and people make lots of assumptions: I voted against Trump three times, plus I voted against him in my state's open GOP primary, which he lost.

Re: EU chief opens door for Canada to become 'associate member'

#522

Post by [deleted] »

nickslaughter02 wrote: post #155
softwaredoug wrote: post #58

I’m not sure this is a good thing for Canada. The EU feels like an incomplete experiment. Not strong enough to actually be a single market. But still able to create additional annoying regulations on top of nation level ones. The EU needs to be truly Federal to succeed economically. That might create uniform regulations with more uniform regulations and actually make Europe competitive.

[flagged]

[deleted]

Re: EU chief opens door for Canada to become 'associate member'

#523

Post by newsclues »

tedggh wrote: post #509
neom wrote: post #75

No idea what this actually means, if it means easier trade, I'm all for anything that reduces our dependency on the yanks, as long as we don't need to be involved in their regulatory or legal regimes. The Americans are no longer our friends, Salut, mes amis Européens. :)

The current regime is due 2028. For most of their history Canada and USA had cordial relations. This looks like a reactionary measure rather than a long term strategic one. Europe is in decline and facing political irrelevance, not the type of partner you want to have particularly if your border neighbor is one of the two current global super powers. It’s yet to see if the UE’s economic reforms will pay off, even of…

Canadians who expect America to suddenly be friendly towards Canada in 2028 are ignorant of history and reality.

Re: EU chief opens door for Canada to become 'associate member'

#524

Post by fidotron »

Sharlin wrote: post #468
fidotron wrote: post #450

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It literally privileges people in countries outside the EU by giving them more rights than those inside. Which many people inside the EU would observe seems completely consistent with EU behaviour. Edit to add: "Being misled" would refer to the way the EU was sold to many participants in earlier decades as an economic union, and not an all encompassing political one, with it simply ratcheting that way. Whenever objec…

Your position seems so astonishingly alien that I don't even know how to start replying. It seems biased against the entire concept of how human cooperation works.

My position is hardly rare. Iceland didn't join at least partly because they were suspicious of intentions regarding fishing.

Human cooperation does not mean misleading your compatriots into deals that you then ratchet up ever further until it becomes completely intolerable.

There are reasons that in the long run flexibility wins.

Re: EU chief opens door for Canada to become 'associate member'

#525

Post by mytailorisrich »

b3lvedere wrote: post #490
mytailorisrich wrote: post #326

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It has to be like Norway/Switzerland/Iceland or more to get any free movements of goods and services. Level of access goes hand in hand with integration in term of regulation, etc. " Associate member " actually sounds like TIGHTER integration than Norway/Switzerland/Iceland, which are not members at all. Switzerland is not even in the EEA. It is a very bad term, actually as Canada cannot be an EU member (it isn't in…

“Canada cannot be an EU member (it isn't in Europe)” I think the construct of geographical location should not be that big of an issue in these times. Plenty of EU countries have overseas properties.

It's the law and it should be very strictly enforced because otherwise it'd open the door for the Middle East and North Africa... But I don't think Canada would want to join the EU, it's anti-Trump bluster.

Re: EU chief opens door for Canada to become 'associate member'

#526

Post by cmrdporcupine »

momocowcow wrote: post #482
cmrdporcupine wrote: post #276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

CETA (free trade) already exists with the EU. What is happening here is mostly symbolism and diplomacy. And maybe it will lead to the last hold out EU member states fully ratifying CETA (French farmers famously difficult). Many people (including Carney himself) are presenting this as a fundamental and recent pivot. But the opening moves of this happened a long time ago. CETA was negotiated by Chrystia Freeland and th…

It was initially an effort from the conservatives, not the liberals.

Canada has Coke and Pepsi flavours of gov't. The differences between the two parties comes down to stupid culture wars stuff and perhaps emphasis on which sectors should dominate the economy, but they don't fundamentally differ.

Carney just eviscerated all environmental laws and climate change initiatives -- which were already pathetically weak -- and cons back in my home province of Alberta are still apoplectic about how persecuted they are. It's all team sport theatre. Dangerously close to US style dysfunction.

Translation: I don't care if it was Harper or Trudeau who "initiated" CETA.

Re: EU chief opens door for Canada to become 'associate member'

#528

Post by epistasis »

tedggh wrote: post #509
neom wrote: post #75

No idea what this actually means, if it means easier trade, I'm all for anything that reduces our dependency on the yanks, as long as we don't need to be involved in their regulatory or legal regimes. The Americans are no longer our friends, Salut, mes amis Européens. :)

The current regime is due 2028. For most of their history Canada and USA had cordial relations. This looks like a reactionary measure rather than a long term strategic one. Europe is in decline and facing political irrelevance, not the type of partner you want to have particularly if your border neighbor is one of the two current global super powers. It’s yet to see if the UE’s economic reforms will pay off, even of…

Why would a new "regime" affect this?

Trust has been broken. The US has lost its shine and hard-earned reputation. Most of the trust was that a person like Trump would never have been elected in the first place.

Can't unelect Trump. The damage has been done, and is ongoing.

Re: EU chief opens door for Canada to become 'associate member'

#529

Post by [deleted] »

FabCH wrote: post #106
neom wrote: post #75

No idea what this actually means, if it means easier trade, I'm all for anything that reduces our dependency on the yanks, as long as we don't need to be involved in their regulatory or legal regimes. The Americans are no longer our friends, Salut, mes amis Européens. :)

Carney was asking for freedom of movement of goods, people and services, but without full monetary and legislative integration. So, easier to sell stuff, easier to buy stuff, free to just travel to/from Canada/EU and work there with no extra paperwork, free to buy and sell service from Canada to EU and vice versa. No Euro, no vote in EU, no ECJ, no payments into each others budget. Tighter integration than UK, not as…

[deleted]

Re: EU chief opens door for Canada to become 'associate member'

#530

Post by hobofan »

cbg0 wrote: post #91
softwaredoug wrote: post #58

I’m not sure this is a good thing for Canada. The EU feels like an incomplete experiment. Not strong enough to actually be a single market. But still able to create additional annoying regulations on top of nation level ones. The EU needs to be truly Federal to succeed economically. That might create uniform regulations with more uniform regulations and actually make Europe competitive.

> The EU needs to be truly Federal to succeed economically. That might create uniform regulations with more uniform regulations and actually make Europe competitive. EU already has uniform regulations, what are you talking about? It's also the third largest economy in the world, as uncompetitive as it is.

> It's also the third largest economy in the world

If going by GDP (which this claim usually does), the EU as a whole beats out China for second place by ~10%. When going by individual countries Germany alone is the third place behind China, though with a large gap between the two.

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