EU Floats Canada Becoming the Bloc's First 'Associate Member' (bloomberg.com)

43 pointsby helsinkiandrewan hour ago57 comments

ocd 10 minutes ago

As stated by Carney, this is not exactly true, but something like this has been expected. From a legal and sovereignty standpoint, EU membership of any kind does not make sense. A novel bloc of nations centered around military and economic cooperation that includes the EU and Canada however, does.

gizajob 7 minutes ago

It certainly does not make sense seeing as Canada is not in Europe.

ocd 6 minutes ago

Mostly a semantic concern in the name given the shared interests and concerns both have in a number of things including the Arctic. It's more a "North Atlantic" group of nations view both sides seem to be taking, but you know, without the US.

gizajob 3 minutes ago

And a fairly serious geographical one.

dcminter 4 minutes ago

[delayed]

jjgreen 37 minutes ago

Bienvenue aux canucks

rapnie 12 minutes ago

The other day in a Dutch geopolitics podcast (Boekestijn en de Wijk) it was mentioned that if there's one country that could be added to the EU "at the stroke of a pen", it would be Canada. In terms of state of the democracy, shared values, etc. And I agree with that perspective. But at the same time I thought that if there's one way to get into conflict with the current US administration - who declared EU their only adversary in the US National Security Plan - this is it. It would be like a mirror image of Russia feeling encroached by NATO, but then in the Western hemisphere. And perhaps a red cloth invitation to the frothing bull(ies) of the Trump administration to invade their neighbor.

hardbass 8 minutes ago

Then that means Canada must build overwhelming firepower clearly and mine the border to hell, build anit aircraft systems everywhere and take whatever steps needed to prevent and repel an unprovoked invasion, just like it is logical for Ukraine to do the same to protect itself from Russia.

WinstonSmith84 7 minutes ago

The US-Iran war is very unpopular and it's not even that the US is winning it.

Going against Canada would mean .. what? Having tanks roll in Toronto downtown? Assuming it would be a military success, which isn't guaranteed after what happens in Iran,that would be unpopular beyond anything we've seen.

Tough words, that's the worse we may expect from the US gov realistically.

gizajob 5 minutes ago

This “at the stroke of the pen” idea is fantastical. Actual Canadians would have next to no interest in this. Whole provinces of Canada don’t even want to be part of Canada so their appetite for having the EU parliament and Commission anywhere near them would be slim to none. Having 250million Europeans eligible to migrate to Canada would similarly be dead in the water even if a few people in Toronto and Quebec might warm to the idea of going the other way.

ocd 3 minutes ago

This is not really true. It's an extreme fringe minority in Canada that is massively misrepresented in US media, and largely propagated by AI bots.

Chance-Device 35 minutes ago

Stranger than fiction.

andy_ppp 23 minutes ago

Why? Seems the US doesn't like democracy anymore and the EU for all its faults still does. I can see Japan joining too and potentially South Korea, Philippines, and others who are concerned about the state of the world and want to work together rather than drive the world apart.

ra 11 minutes ago

[delayed]

ben_w 17 minutes ago

Reality doesn't need to be plausible; we're all characters in each other's first-person narratives, with no access to the voice of an omniscient narrator.

nolok 16 minutes ago

I mean, it's only what the US is doing that's strange.

It's a country with tons of raw resources and a large consumer market, they're the "dream partner" for the large blocks (USA/China/EU, and Japan/India a bit behind). You buy their resources, they make a lot of money from it, you turn it into a final product and you make a lot of money from the value added, everyone is happy.

It's really weird that the US is suddenly not happy about this arrangement, and for resource-starved EU it's a golden opportunity; of course we will happily buy if the US doesn't want to anymore. That's why there is so little friction showing up (there will be more later, of course, but relatively little), why Canada can get so many deal quickly with everyone during this turnaround, it's that obvious of a win for everyone involved.

(as usual, the key blocking point that will need lots of work will be food, eve more than it is with the US, I wish we could scrap that entire part to get a v1 going quickly but alas it's not how trade deal work)

tick_tock_tick 8 minutes ago

> (as usual, the key blocking point that will need lots of work will be food, eve more than it is with the US, I wish we could scrap that entire part to get a v1 going quickly but alas it's not how trade deal work)

I mean food/dairy/autos (which is also a major EU issue) have been 90% of the issues with Canada/USA trade for decades too so I have my doubts of them figuring it out any better.

I guess Canada is way more motivated then ever before as rapid souring of the relationship with the USA from this point would be a near economic collapse for them.

nolok 2 minutes ago

CETA (the existing EU/CA one) is also being bogged down in some country including my own (France) because of some food issues, so I think everyone involved kows.

And while you're correct about Canada being extra motivated at the moment; so is the EU. It's such an absurd situation that we know the "urgent pivot need" might slow down a lot if adult come back in charge in the US. Same reason why so many want to sign so quickly, it's like gold on a platter AND Canada win too, you don't spit on that offer.

nutjob2 15 minutes ago

Between the US and China, the EU is the future, but they need to federalize then leverage that to implement a top notch military and economy.

Carney can see this and wants a piece of the action. The question is if the EU can escape its parochial myopia and see it.

Hopefully Russia will do something even stupider and precipitate the existential crisis that the EU desperately needs to get off its ass.

tick_tock_tick 14 minutes ago

> but they need to federalize

That's not happening or if it did they'd lose a third of the members doing it.

preisschild 11 minutes ago

> If it did they'd lose a third of the members doing it.

As a federalist, that would be fine for me. Make a two speed europe. EU stays primarily a trade block that the "federal EU" is in.

nutjob2 9 minutes ago

Go ahead, make my day.

iLoveOncall 9 minutes ago

> they need to federalize

"Shit Americans say"

The EU is NOTHING like the US. The difference between each member is the same as the difference between the US and Mexico, not like the difference between California and Utah.

It's utter ignorance to suggest that the EU could one day become a single country.

bawolff 33 minutes ago

Canadian government seems to be denying this.

cromka 32 minutes ago

Carney himself used these exact words couple days ago. This is coordinated.

bawolff 28 minutes ago

Do you have a citation for that? What was the exact quote?

cromka 26 minutes ago

BBC https://www.bbc.com Carney eyes 'unique alliance' with EU as trade war with US intensifies

WSJ https://www.wsj.com/world/europe/canada-alliance-eu-carney-2... Mark Carney's Audacious Bid to Make Canada an 'Associate Member' of the EU

That's the coordination here. Which may have misfired, too:

https://www.ft.com/content/2e2e0c1e-51d6-49e2-9f4a-6ef793908...

Mashimo 26 minutes ago

What I found:

>>> "We're not looking to become a member of the European Union," Carney said Sunday evening on the red carpet of the Toronto International Film Festival. He attended the festival shortly after giving a speech to kick off the two-day Canada Investment Summit, which begins Monday.

>>> "What we are looking — and will begin discussions for — [is] a unique alliance with the European Union. We share the same values, we have the same priorities and we have very complementary strengths."

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-european-union-eu-me...

beloch 14 minutes ago

Carney has said Canada is not looking to become a "member" of the EU. Meanwhile, "associate member" is an entirely new thing that has yet to be defined. These aren't incompatible statements.

It appears more accurate to say that Canada and the EU want to work together more closely than they do now. There will be something more than CETA. Perhaps more shared standards on food, etc.. Likely more military procurement cooperation. Perhaps something akin to NATO style military cooperation, just in case NATO implodes*. Perhaps there will be some cooperation in trade disputes as well.

I suspect there is recognition that middle powers like the EU, Canada, Australia, etc. can do a better job of cooperating without everyone joining the EU and giving up an uncomfortable amount of sovereignty. Slightly more cooperation than currently exists may be all that's required for middle powers to do a better job of standing up to the supers.

_________

*NATO imploding is unlikely, but it's always good to have a fallback.

drgo 43 minutes ago

Thanks Trump