Thread

1. bhaak · 1789602929 · focus · HN ↗

   That's a brilliant move by von der Leyen and Mark Carney (I guess he's in on it as well).

   There is currently no such status as "associate member" defined in the EU treates although the idea of special status for not being a complete member was floating around for a while now.

   Just calling it a "unique alliance" or "deepening of their relationship" wouldn't have had such a public effect.

   Half of the right wing influencers on X is going bananas because when the US was "offering" Canada to join them, they said a firm "NO" but for the EU they are opening the door.

   Trump even said when the Canada joins the EU as associate member, it could be considered a hostile act.

   All that for a status nobody knows yet what it will entail. More than a simple trade deal, for sure, but also a lot less than a proper membership.

   1. spiralpolitik · 1789603897 · focus · HN ↗

      While there isn't an official "associate member" status, Norway, Iceland, and Switzerland all have custom deals with the EU so this just codifies what already exists in an ad-hoc form.

      The only bit the EU is rowing back is that they mentioned during BRExit that there would be no more custom deals so this simply a case of the realpolitik winning out.

      I'm sure the UK will be looking at this very carefully as well.

      1. rsynnott · 1789630888 · focus · HN ↗

         > The only bit the EU is rowing back is that they mentioned during BRExit that there would be no more custom deals so this simply a case of the realpolitik winning out.

         This isn't _really_ what they said. In practice, if the UK wanted similar status to Norway, it could have had it. The EU is cautious of specifically the Switzerland situation, which is a huge complex mess of treaties.

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