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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'

#651

Post by Roark66 »

As an European I hope this leads to some concrete outcomes and will not just be a couple of statements by both sides.

Also it's a great test for the EU. If all the EU countries can still actually agree on anything so novel. If we couldn't all agree on obvious stuff like support for Ukraine (famously Hungary had issues).

Even if things are very positive on the surface there are often small groups that get affected negatively. We can see this on the recent example of the EU-Mercosur agreement. It was supposed to to "unite a free market of 700mln people", but for example farmers in my country (Poland) protested it an I think they got a lot of concessions. (We have to remain food-self sufficient in case of war, so I'm not against their ideas per se). The deal is supposedly done, but I'm still not seeing bananas from South America in our supermarkets (don't laugh, this was one of the main points anti EU people raised back in 2005).

Ideally I'd like to see free market eventually expanded to free movement of people between EU/Canada but I have no idea how difficult aligning the legal systems might be.

As to contributions, it's not membership so things can maybe be worked out. As to the UK being able to get similar deal. I don't really get the idea to "punish the UK for exiting" they shot themselves in the foot sufficiently anyway (as well as us), but Canada has way more natural resources which may be a great benefit to our common market. So they have better "cards" to quote a certain Donald.

For example the whole farce that is EUs green initiative could actually make sense if we had a place to procure resources from in a more ecologically sound way. As opposed to what we do with China, we basically killed 90% of local industry, but we still get finished goods from countries that burn huge amounts of coal and manufacture those things in ways that would be never allowed here.

Of course that we E immensely expensive to set up, but we have 2 trillion $ in investment looking for a new home and there is a good argument to make this should be invested in a place that honours rule of law, democracy, human rights (inclusive of right to healthcare) and so on.

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

#652

Post by soco »

stingraycharles wrote: post #639
FabCH wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> Tighter integration than UK Sounds like it could be a solution for the UK as well, which begs the question: why wasn’t a similar proposal worked out with the uk?

Because the UK wanted out, not in. You can work out solutions only when you are looking to work out solutions.

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

#653

Post by gizajob »

johannes1234321 wrote: post #496
fidotron wrote: post #355

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the other part: if associate membership is a thing then won't half of the EU start thinking that's their future?

There is always the debate around "Europe of two speeds" - where there is a deeply integrated core of nations, maybe even going towards "United States of Europe" and the others tightly associated, but not fully integrated. Of course the set of countries and level of integration depends on whom you ask

It would be towards “The United States of Germany”, not Europe.

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

#654

Post by fidotron »

donbox wrote: post #627
gizajob wrote: post #436

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A majority of Canadians haven’t decided this in an election, and I doubt that 20 million of them would be on board with it.

The elected representatives can decide? I mean their Parliament.

It sounds constitutional, and if you want to make a Canadian exasperated ask about the history of the Canadian constitution.

Hint: it's still not been signed by all the relevant parties.

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

#655

Post by Rover222 »

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. :)

Do Canadians think "Yanks" is some sort of insult?

I guess it's the white version of saying Gringo.

Canada's economy is propped up by Alberta's energy production, which you my loose because they're so disgusted with the liberal politics.

Anyway, good luck with revitalizing the economy by trading with a bloc of countries in economic decline.

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

#657

Post by next_xibalba »

SyneRyder wrote: post #270
ocd wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have such fatigue from listening to the rhetoric and whining from US farmers when enough of their goods are dangerous for consumers and illegal in Canada and the EU. It's all bad faith from the US trying to run over any market they don't control so they can weaponize control over food supply of another nation later.

I don't mind countries setting their own rules for the food they want to consume, and for sure the EU can be overly bureaucratic. On the other hand, the US is the only country I've been to where I have purchased milk in a completely sealed plastic container, and it was rancid when I opened it. Upstate New York is proud of their local and organic produce, but they are selling rancid milk in stores like that's a normal…

> purchased milk in a completely sealed plastic container, and it was rancid when I opened it

I've lived in the U.S. for 40 years in 8 different states and twice as many cities. Never once have I experienced this.

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

#658

Post by Rover222 »

teekert wrote: post #404
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. :)

Just want to chip in: I love you "yanks", not so much your politics and your imperialistic tendencies, but nearly all Americans I met were nothing but kind (coast to coast, left or right).

This is a nice vibe. Appreciate you.

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

#659

Post by petilon »

squidbeak wrote: post #614
petilon wrote: post #465

Trump is not emperor for life, fortunately. He'll be gone in a couple of years. With any luck the upcoming midterms will significantly limit his powers. America will recover from this dark period. Other countries have had dark periods too, like Germany, and recovered.

The trouble for its global partners, especially in the Western Alliance, is that even if the attitude in the White House does change in 2029, no-one will ever be able to trust a repeat isn't 4 years away. US dominance has depended on its reliability as a partner - and that's gone.

Trust won't come back immediately, but if the next 2 to 3 Presidents are "normal" then trust will come back slowly.

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

#660

Post by mcv »

enoint wrote: post #620
mcv wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd like to take a closer look at what exactly Canada is exporting to the US, and what exactly the EU is importing from elsewhere, to see if there's a match. I'd rather buy from Canada than from Russia. Or China. Or the US.

The important categories are oil and potash. Consumer actions might not influence those much.

How much oil is Europe still importing from Russia? I'd rather have Canadian.
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