It was smiles, applause and handshakes all around on Wednesday in Strasbourg as Mark Carney sat in on EU President Ursula von der Leyen’s “state of the union” address, in which she floated the idea of Canada becoming the EU’s first “associate member,” whatever that means. But let’s not get carried away by all the well-wishing and good fellowship. The EU is a bloc that sensible countries like Iceland and Norway keep refusing to join. They already have the market access Carney wants and live right next door to the regulators he is courting, and yet they have repeatedly rejected closer integration.
In August, Icelanders voted 52.8 per cent against restarting accession talks that were abandoned more than a decade ago. Turnout was high at 82.5 per cent and the question was not membership but simply whether to reopen negotiations. And still the voters said no.
A word from VDH
