In her State of the Union address, Ursula von der Leyen suggested she wants to see Canada as an associate EU member. Here’s why it’s so hard to get close to membership, and what rights and obligations would flow from pursuing such a deep set of ties 👇

Friends with benefits: EU associate membership explained

Von der Leyen’s offer to make Canada an associate member of the EU is unprecedented. Could it work?

politico.eu

NEW POLLING Tom Brufatto: With a new Prime Minister, determined to prioritise redistributive growth and to restore a sense of hope to the country, this research sets out the roadmap to the party’s recovery, and provides the political piece to complete the economic jigsaw smashed to bits by Brexit.

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Three-byline alert: 🚨 “.. Carney has even suggested Canada take on a new title: ‘Associate Member of the European Union.’ .. The EU, not known for its flexible enforcement of membership rules, is open to the idea ..” @wsj.com www.wsj.com/world/europe...

Now online... www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/opinion...

Andy Burnham’s admission on Brexit damage is a welcome change - Yorkshire Post Letters

From: Peter Packham, Chair, Leeds for Europe, Roundhay, Leeds.

yorkshirepost.co.uk

Leeds for Europe@leedseurope.bsky.social · 2w ago

RIP 'make Brexit work' 🪦 Andy Burnham has buried the slogan, says Chair @leedsblue67.bsky.social in today's @yorkshirepost.co.uk 📰 Our PM accepts closer EU cooperation is essential. Burnham isn't yet proposing we #RejoinEU, but this significant change is welcome! 🇪🇺 #Leeds #Yorkshire #UKPolitics 👇

2. The Ed Davey section on rejoining the Single Market.

Europe’s northern neighbourhood

We’re deepening our cooperation with Greenland across the board. Connectivity, clean energy, critical raw materials. And of course, more opportunities for the people of Greenland. We’re backing these ambitions with a €200 million Partnership Package ↓ link.europa.eu/tx6XDh

Europe always chooses science and partnership. Japan too. Japan is now officially associated with Horizon Europe. This means Japanese researchers and organisations can take part in the world's largest public research and innovation programme. Let's break new frontiers together.

Why a joint defence platform with Ukraine is a prerequisite for Europe’s strategic agency and security.

Only a joint Ukraine-EU defence force can stop Putin’s imperialist rampage

Why a joint defence platform with Ukraine is a prerequisite for Europe’s strategic agency and security.

euobserver.com

Avoiding the euro debate won’t make it disappear, writes Niall Ó Conghaile. In any future accession campaign, it could become one of the central questions. So why not start making the case now? 👇

Mike Galsworthy is wrong – the UK has to back the euro

Pro-Europeans should make the positive case for the euro rather than trying to avoid the debate

eastangliabylines.co.uk

Lord Kinnock, Former Leader of the Labour Party and Patron of European Movement UK: "If you love your country, and the people who live under the flag, and not just saluting a flag, you will want to get us back into the European Union." Our journey home to Europe is only just getting started.

90% of EU citizens want a more united Europe against global crises, survey shows The decreasing rate of euroscepticism represents an important win over nationalist narratives dominating many upcoming elections.

90% of EU citizens want a more united Europe against global crises, survey shows

The decreasing rate of euroscepticism represents an important win over nationalist narratives dominating many upcoming elections, with French far-right National Rally candidate Jordan Bardella promising to halve France’s EU budget, if he wins the presidency next year.

euobserver.com

Great discussion with Mark Carney in Évian. Canada is truly the most European of the non-European countries. We are working together on digital trade, critical raw materials, and defence.

The EU is behind you, President Zelenskyy, today, tomorrow, as long as necessary. Yesterday, we made history by opening the first accession negotiation cluster on Fundamentals.

What is the Russian imperial ethos? What role does it play in russian war crimes? And a few more thoughts on how answering the question ‘what it is’ when dealing with the russia might hold the key to ‘what to do’ with this aggressive Frankenstein state open.substack.com/pub/chakhoya...

Russia, the unmysterious aggressor

Europe keeps trying to crack the Russian riddle: Why invade neighbors? Why the war crimes? But the answer hides in plain sight.

open.substack.com

Speaking in Madrid yesterday, Pope Leo XIV stated: "I encourage you to nurture the process of the European Union, which is not merely a counterweight to other powers, but a gift to humanity."

EU is more popular post-Brexit, including in the UK, Pew survey finds A decade after Brexit, a new survey suggests the vote that split Britain may have helped bring the rest of Europe closer together.

EU is more popular post-Brexit, including in the UK, Pew survey finds

A decade after Brexit, a new survey suggests the vote that split Britain may have helped bring the rest of Europe closer together.

euronews.com

Note that the worst case scenario equates "losing the post-Soviet states" (as if they belong to Ru now) w complete loss of *Russia's* sovereignty. What this means is that russia views imperialist expansion as intrinsic to its state identity. Anyone claiming russia is security-driven is a clown.

jaimi.bsky.social@jaimi.bsky.social · 4mo ago

However, besides the hilarity and delusionality of “We still have a chance to conquer Ukraine in 10 more years and rule the world in 24 more” it’s really quite sinister—they absolutely DO want to reconquer their whole old empire and dominate the rest of the world, zero shame whatsoever—

"We need a geopolitical and geoeconomical understanding of Europe. Europe is not the European Union and is stronger with the UK, Norway, Iceland, and Greenland. We also need a strong eastern pillar of defense in the southeast, including Ukraine and Turkey" (11:43). #TheTiesThatBind. buff.ly/lPbnK8I

Understanding the German Defense Strategy

Season 3, Episode 2 | In Conversation with Roderich Kiesewetter, Member of the German Bundestag

buff.ly

In this blog post, I'm looking at the claim by @anderspucknielsen.dk regarding a potential Russian invasion against the Baltic States. I reflect on his argument, how I envision the probabilities, and the potential consequences for Russia, Ukraine, and Europe.

🇪🇺 About a Russian invasion of the Baltic States

Anders Puck Nielsen and other experts believe that a Russian invasion of the Baltics could happen sooner than we think. His assessment deserves further consideration.

steady.page

"The EU is an economic giant. Its 27 member states combine into the world’s second-biggest economy behind America and its third-most-populous internal market, behind India and China." Since Brexit, we have been out in the cold. Outside the EU and buffeted between a volatile US and calculated China.

We cannot survive alone in this volatile world. The UK and Poland are both one of the continent's biggest military powers, and it's positive that we're working together. But we need to keep ensuring that commitment turns into action.

UK and Poland sign new defense and migration pact

The agreement adds to a growing number of bilateral deals signed since Russia’s invasion — and U.S. criticism of NATO.

politico.eu

We’re giving an unprecedented boost to EU–Mexico trade relations. Eliminating virtually all tariffs, saving businesses millions. Giving wider choice to consumers.

3/ No single market in defence - no competition, no transformation, no ramp-up in production. That was my message to Chiefs of Defence today: we need to transform demand in order to transform the supply! Full speech↓ ec.europa.eu/commission/p...

Keynote speech by Commissioner Kubilius in the EU Military Committee meeting at the level of Chiefs of Defence

We are living in a reality of 360 degrees of challenges to our security.\nThe Iran war brings real threats to our Southern and Mediterranean Flank countries, and challenges our supply of weapons.\nAt ...

ec.europa.eu

the "Thucydides Trap" shows how bad history can succeed if it serves a purpose

China's Favorite American Idea

the

hegemon.substack.com

"Much as the West overestimated the Soviet Union in the 1970s and ‘80s by discounting its internal problems, outside observers may be overestimating China’s ability to keep rising. Authoritarians don’t have fewer domestic problems than other political systems, they’re just better at hiding it."

Staggering Towards Anarchy

What will replace U.S. global leadership after the Trump-accelerated American decline is not a rising China, but multipolar chaos.

liberalcurrents.com

Insightful overview of the future developments of European defence by President Sauli Niinistö & @ceps.eu. All the possible options: more European NATO, new European intergovernmental treaty on defence, European Defence Union & European Security Council, etc. 1/2🧵 www.ceps.eu/ceps-publica...

More Europe in defence – three pathways – CEPS

Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and destabilising actions by the second Trump administration have sent geopolitics into a tailspin. As turmoil in the

ceps.eu

The far-right are going to have a cry about this...

London named best city for culture by Time Out

The capital is ranked above Paris and New York for its large, quality, accessible cultural scene.

bbc.co.uk

It’s not just the remarkable 63% who say they’d vote to rejoin the EU. It’s also the fact that this figure continues to rise slowly but steadily. Brexit has failed and is seen to have failed. And geopolitics brings Britain and its neighbours, with whom it shares interests & values, closer together.