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

693 points · 905 comments · hackernj

  1. neom · · focus · HN ↗
    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. :)
    1. FabCH · · focus · HN ↗
      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 tight as Norway/Switzerland/Iceland.

      Common defense was already agreed anyhow.

      I can tell you this enjoys broad support in the EU public. Although, no joke, a lot of peoples first reaction is: "They need to compete in Eurovision first. Otherwise they should wait for Australia to join first."

      1. carlob · · focus · HN ↗
        > Although, no joke, a lot of peoples first reaction is: "They need to compete in Eurovision first. Otherwise they should wait for Australia to join first."

        What? First time I hear of this. Honestly, Eurovision doesn't really have anything to do with the EU. We all know the main sponsor is from a non-EU country whose participation is much more controversial than Canada anyway.

        1. lrasinen · · focus · HN ↗
          The main sponsor did not renew the sponsorship deal for next year, though.
        2. FabCH · · focus · HN ↗
          Because Eurovision is this cultural joke that unifies all of Europe in this yearly cultural moment of absolute madness.

          And the EU treaties refuse to define what „European“ means, so using „watches Eurovision“ as a rule of thumb is surprisingly workable as a definition of where the borders of „Europe“ end.

          1. carlob · · focus · HN ↗
            so Australia is in Europe, but Spain, the Netherlands and Ireland are not?
            1. FabCH · · focus · HN ↗
              I guarantee you that the winning song will play on repeat over and over again in every city in Spain, the Netherlands and Ireland irrespective of if they are competing, and people will still watch the circus from those countries. The whole "well we are not competing this year as a protest" is part of the joke.

              That is the whole point. If you want to understand more, this song is genuinely a good explanation:

              <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=Cv6tgnx6jTQ" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=Cv6tgnx6jTQ

              And I&#x27;m not even joking.

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