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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'

#331

Post by ololobus »

I have no idea how we do it, but I think we should somehow ban the expansion of all the existing unions (EU, CIS, NATO, whatever else we got). The overall worldwide tension is pretty high, but now

- US goes after South America and Greenland

- EU goes after Canada and Georgia (country), which is just ridiculous in terms of geography

- Russia invades Ukraine and goes after Eastern Europe and Middle-East to some extent

- China does its expansion too

Even though some of these actions are just political nonsense, it still increases the overall level of escalation. This is not what the world needs right now

Trade agreements and unions — yes, please; yet another political or military union expansion — please, God, no. I understand that EU is a mix of both, but also do think that this is a purely political game against Trump

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

#332

Post by mitxela »

moeadham wrote: post #195
DanielHB wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is this different from the EEA (Norway/Switzerland/Iceland)?

EEA you have to follow rules but get no say in said rules.

Like me when I sign up for Hacker News or Twitter.

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

#333

Post by graemep »

shevy-java wrote: post #131

Leyen babbles a lot. I have absolutely nothing at all against Canada and EU getting closer, but please don't dance when Leyen whistles - that leads to nothing but uselessness. She should have never been in politics to begin with - the absolutely worst person for the job.

> She should have never been in politics to begin with - the absolutely worst person for the job.

A description that fits a lot of politicians!

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

#334

Post by method_capital »

input_sh wrote: post #290
vehemenz wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed, but on other dimensions China is still 150 years behind the West. It’s important to keep this progress in perspective.

Go on, on which dimensions is China 150 years behind the West?

Creativity, innovation, freedom? 10 guys in a room can't compete for long against hundreds of millions or billions pursuing their own separate interests. Sure, they can steal, but they can't create to the same degree if at all.

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

#335

Post by cmiles8 »

llm_nerd wrote: post #275
shoobiedoo wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And won't the dems just undo all this tariff nonsense anyway? Or is Canada acting like a bitter ex after a breakup who vows to take their seething to the grave no matter what

Bitter ex? This is amazing. The US is a completely broken country, and simply switching governments will not change that. Without a complete and utter change in how that entire country operates -- including dissolution -- no country should ever normalize relations with it again. The US is by far the world's most dangerous rogue nation. It is a terroristic nation. It is a bully. It not only elected a rapist self-deali…

And how does that make you feel?

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

#336

Post by cmrdporcupine »

nickslaughter02 wrote: post #139

> Canada's Bill C-22 Would Force Encryption Backdoors > Signal, Windscribe, and NordVPN say they'll pull out of Canada before building surveillance infrastructure. The biggest threat to encrypted communications in a Western democracy since Australia's 2018 law. https://stateofsurveillance.org/news/canada-bill-c22-lawful-... + > European Commission Revives Push for Encryption Backdoors in ProtectEU Strategy, Framing M…

Both of these things can be true (and things we as Canadians have to aggressively oppose) but at the same time, it was the US that pioneered such gems as:

the PATRIOT act, Stellar Wind, PRISM & Section 702 (FAA), Upstream Collection & AT&T Splitter Rooms (Room 641A), Bulk Telephony Metadata (Section 215, the Post-9/11 NYPD Demographics Unit, the Data Broker Loophole (Commercial Surveillance Purchase). Oh god, I could go on all day.

Or did/does things like extraordinary rendition to Guantanamo, or the illegal rendition of Canadian citizen Maher Arar to a Syrian torture facility while he was traveling through the US, or even just taking tourists phones and looking at the anti-Trump memes they've shared and detaining them.

Any "libertarian" American pointing fingers at Europe and Canada as somehow more repressive is living in an ideological echo chamber. The targets are (sometimes) different but every "western democracy" set up oppressive regimes post-9/11 that should outrage anybody.

Both "left" and "right" in the US are living in a delusional world if they think their constitution is worth jack shit as any kind of protection in the 21st century.

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

#337

Post by teamonkey »

fidotron wrote: post #283
klelatti wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Carney was asking for freedom of movement of goods, people and services, but without full monetary and legislative integration. > no payments into each others budget. Not going to happen! To enable free movement of goods and services the EU insists that the goods and services are produced in an identical regulatory environment. Even when the regimes are basically identical - eg the UK - then the EU doesn't permit i…

It's actually going to raise questions as to why the EU are A-OK with this now when a possible interpretation of associate membership is it's what Cameron was trying to negotiate the UK into when complete inflexibility on the EU side triggered the Brexit referendum. All depends on what an associate member is of course.

I don’t think Cameron did much serious negotiation on this front. He resigned the evening of the referendum results.

It was a deliberate choice by his successors to pursue a hard Brexit. A softer Brexit was always possible and likely would have been more acceptable to the EU, as it would have had less financial impact and disruption to trade.

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

#338

Post by mindwok »

haunter wrote: post #148

Wonder how does Morocco feel about this becasue they applied to be an actual full memeber before s and they are geographically closer too. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morocco%E2%80%93European_Union...

They would probably argue “European nation” is cultural and not geographic. Morocco is officially Muslim and not a full democracy, the EU isn’t ready for that I don’t think.

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

#339

Post by usrbinbash »

cmiles8 wrote: post #303
klelatti wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Carney was asking for freedom of movement of goods, people and services, but without full monetary and legislative integration. > no payments into each others budget. Not going to happen! To enable free movement of goods and services the EU insists that the goods and services are produced in an identical regulatory environment. Even when the regimes are basically identical - eg the UK - then the EU doesn't permit i…

A) Would never happen. B) If it did happen, the US would just say “give us the same deal or you get cut off” and Europe would capitulate immediately.

Cut the EU off from ... what?

Technlogy? That would likely result in a US market crash the likes of which has never been seen before. Look at what percentage of the stock market is the magnificent 7. Now imagine what would happen to that if US tech giants were no longer allowed to sell their products/services in the EU. The market is fragile as it is with the AI bubble going on.

Trade? That cuts both ways, and the US economy and cost-of-living crisis doesn't give them lots of wriggle room.

Products? China will be all to happy to step into whatever market is thus competition-free, not to mention the impact this would have on US businesses.

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

#340

Post by isgb »

post-it wrote: post #118
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…

Canada will be competing in Eurovision 2027 in May. :)

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