Lol there's no such thing as an EU associate member. The EU has to come up with and agree to what the term means.
The same EU that still hasn't ratified CETA; 10 members still blocking it.
EU chief opens door for Canada to become 'associate member'
851–860 of 878 posts
Re: EU chief opens door for Canada to become 'associate member'
#852Earlier quoted context omitted.
Nations don't have friends, they have interests.
Democratic populations have feelings towards each other, including friendship. There are plenty of nations I feel my nation has friendships with - if they were bullied, we'd stand up for them on pure reaction. Not everything is interests. People are people.
This is such a dumb take. Like 80 years ago the so-called Europeans were killing each other. 35 years ago there were 2 German nations that had animosity towards each other. This is why teaching history is important in schools so people don’t live in imaginary land
Re: EU chief opens door for Canada to become 'associate member'
#853Maybe this is a naive statement, but it seems like full membership including open borders between Canada and other EU states and adoption of the Euro would also be beneficial to everyone involved. The UK should continue to be embarrassed and ashamed to leave such an incredible institution, although at this point we can say that they clearly don’t deserve the EU anyway.
Yes but someone will need to step in and adjudicate once everyone in Europe has enough of living in the United States of Germany and there’s another war over it.
Excuse me, have some respect for the 4th Reich
Re: EU chief opens door for Canada to become 'associate member'
#854Earlier quoted context omitted.
The British Empire dismantling wasn't exactly peaceful, but it could have been much worse. Next to India, everything else becomes a rounding error.
It was mostly peaceful in itself. There was a lot of conflict that followed in the wake of it as borders and power structures were settled. Just in South Asia we had the partition of India, the secession of Bangladesh from Pakistan, the Sri Lankan civil war, and various smaller separatist conflicts.
Not to mention the whole Middle East mess is due to the British on how they drew the borders when they left
Re: EU chief opens door for Canada to become 'associate member'
#855Earlier quoted context omitted.
> because they’d be without a currency in the interim period From independence 1922 to 1979 (when we joined the EMS) Ireland just used a currency pegged to Sterling. An independent Scotland would presumably use a newly-created currency pegged to either Sterling or the Euro, on at least a temporary basis. Spain have dropped their threats to veto Scottish accession: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/apr/02/spai…
You really think contemporary Scots are going to be alright with that? If we’re saying that Brexit has been economically disastrous for Britain then it seems exiting the UK could be even worse. I’d support the Scots doing it though if they manage to vote for it in a third referendum.
I mean, if pegged against Sterling, they'd be about where they are now; Scotland has no meaningful control over Sterling currently.
Re: EU chief opens door for Canada to become 'associate member'
#856The EU itself is becoming increasingly integrated with the free movement, common currency, aligned education system etc etc, but these things take a lot of time, not the least identity-wise. For sure, my children feel more European than I did growing up in what was then a non-member state. So outright membership is likely not the route for overseas friends, but it seems we are inexorably moving towards a closer coope…
Inexorably is not the word I would use. It’s hard work. UK is a good example of how fragile it remains, even after decades of membership.
EU got stronger when UK left. Brexit proved the value of EU.
Re: EU chief opens door for Canada to become 'associate member'
#857Re: EU chief opens door for Canada to become 'associate member'
#858Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I thought Turkey or North Africa would be the next steps. Maybe Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. Not white enough for the EU. There is a lot of opposition to even Turkey, which is already in customs union, joining and talks are dead specifically because EU countries do not want immigration from Turkey.
No, just too corrupt for the EU.
More corrupt than Greece?
Re: EU chief opens door for Canada to become 'associate member'
#859Earlier quoted context omitted.
What about the importance of that trade. The US exports a lot of critical things that cannot be supplied from elsewhere. Everyone is heavily reliant on American technology.
Like what specifically? Only services come to mind. Any hardware is produced in Asia, in fabs that use equipment from Netherlands.
Remember International Criminal Court sanctioned for investigating Israeli and American role in the crimes being committed on the Palestinian territory?
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cnvnl0elz47o
On top of more than 10 already.
Or sanctioned Francesca Albanese, a UN Special Rapporteur, for her work related to human rights abuses in the Palestine.
She can't have bank account (or other financial product), own a property or work in many sectors in countries holding meaningful bilateral relationships with the USA.
So what services do you have in mind? :)
Re: EU chief opens door for Canada to become 'associate member'
#860Earlier quoted context omitted.
70% of Canadian exports are to the US. 6% to the EU. Why would e.g. Poland want to enter a trade war with the US on Canada's behalf?
Funny, to justify Brexit numbers like these were meaningless
Putler invested a lot in that. Cheap price for the impact we still see.