European Union member states have blocked a proposal by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to grant Canada a special status as an “associate member” of the bloc.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and several other EU leaders pushed to remove the term from a draft declaration ahead of a two-day EU-Canada summit beginning Thursday in Montreal, according to diplomats cited by the dpa and AFP news agencies.
Instead, the revised document calls for a plan to establish “closer ties” between
…that’s an oxymoron? The formality is what gave it significance.
I feel like the significance is in the terms of the deal and not the wording. It sounds like it’s to avoid never ending linguistics bureaucracy.
An associate member could have many of the benefits of being in the bloc without paying adequate dues or holding enough responsibilities. It needs hashing out.
Ya, I think they wanted to avoid the hashing out when it wasn’t part of the deal to begin with from what I understand.
“closer ties” is a statement of intent. “associate member” is a category of member.
If you do the manager’s duties and get called the head lackey, it’s not very formal but still significant.