Canada

Excellent article.

Main points for me:

1. Horizon Europe, digital sovereignty and technology, GDPR. YES! And absolutely we should be strengthening our privacy laws. We should be moving towards GDPR and we should be pushing for right to repair, etc.

2. Green Alliance, climate collaboration, and collaboration on the Arctic. YES! But see the impacts of CETA/ISDS/ICS too.

3. Freedom of movement. Yes, but: Europe's model of immigration has the opposite values than ours. We shouldn't let European phobic attitudes to immigration hamstring us from developing further ties, e.g., with the north african and sub-saharan francophonie. But we should definitely, absolutely further develop Erasmus+ and other EU-Canada youth exchange programs. And it should become extremely fluid and frictionless to recognize European professional credentials in Canada. An Italian doctor or a Greek nurse or a Spanish engineer or a German tradesperson should be able to start practicing in Canada within weeks at worst. EDIT: Also, linked with deepening research collaboration: Canadian temporary permits (study, work) should start to be recognized as means to expedite or eliminate EU visitor visas. We welcome fantastic international students who come from places Europeans over-scrutinize (the Maghreb, Africa, Iran, India, ...) and are in a disadvantage for research collaborations and/or research visits in the EU.

4. But I would be squarely against closer political and monetary integration with the EU. We absolutely do not need the Euro or the Stability and Growth Pact, and we do not need the various Orbans, LePens and Melonis, or the various debt-phobic Germans and Dutch having any kind of veto over our policies or say over our politics. The Norwegian, Swiss and Icelandic models are good models of EU-collaboration, and we can of course develop our own. We can be very very very good friends, but just like we don’t need to be anyone’s 51st state, we also don’t need to be anyone’s 28th member state.

Finally: for that matter, we should be looking for similar degrees of integration with Japan-Korea-Australia, etc. We are uniquely positioned to unite Pacific and Atlantic. To quote Carney: "if US no longer wants to lead, Canada will".

I have no interest in Canada joining the EU, which I see as having a bunch of governance problems of their own, but being close allies with well-integrated and mutually supportive economies via trade and other agreements sounds good to me.

Honestly, the idea floated that Canada would form a bloc with the UK, other commonwealth countries, and the EU, then have that bloc negotiate trade agreements with China sounds absolutely ideal to me. That's apparently already been raised by Carney in private talks on his visits to Europe and the UK. It would unite most of the world and cut the US off unless they changed course on their insane path. That's the foundation for a much more positive world order