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Comment by throwaway283737 | Hacker News Reader

This is the same EU who once reduced the Canadian trade minister to (literal) tears, and made her denounce the (accurate) fact that, and I quote, "Europe is not capable of signing a trade deal". Notably, the EU has never ratified the Canada FTA and everyone's just sort of pretending it did for convenience's sake.

Nice symbolism, but this is merely being used as leverage in Canada's negotiation with the US. "See, we have other options!"

Worth adding that Europe is far more protectionist than the US, so this is economically farcical. Symbolism trumping reality. Sort of like when celebrities were saying they'd move from the US to Europe in the aftermath of the Dobbs ruling... only to find out abortion law is far, far more restrictive in almost all of Europe than California or New York.

Meanwhile the EU itself is about two years away from being run by the AfD + Le Pen freak show.

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I think a lot of non-europeans have this illusion that EU is this one big liberal, open-minded continent. It is mostly true if you look at certain cities like Amsterdam or Copenhagen, but in general most EU countries are way more conservative, and traditional.

Not only abortion, some EU countries still have laws to discriminate people based on their sexuality. One recent example is that one of the prominent openly gay German politician (Jens Spahn) had to give up his position (although he had it coming because his other political scandals) because he used a surrogate mother in US to have a kid with his husband. I didn't know till then, but apparently surrogacy is still illegal in Germany and nobody was talking about making it legal and let women decide what they want to do with their bodies.

All those democrats and celebrities in US wants to move to European countries and I would love to see their faces when they realize that old world is still archaic in so many aspects.

> openly gay German politician (Jens Spahn) had to give up his position (although he had it coming because his other political scandals) because he used a surrogate mother in US to have a kid with his husband.

That's misleading. The issue was hypocrisy. Spahn was a chief advocate against surrogacy. He publicly supported a motion keeping surrogacy illegal in Germany while simultaneously secretly using a surrogate mother in the US. That's not a great look.

The reason he had to give up his position was not his hypocrisy. If that’s the case then 99% of all politicians would have to give up their positions.

Even if he was a supporter of surrogacy, he would still be forced to step back because surrogacy is illegal in Germany. Further, there was no debate or discussions on making surrogacy legal after that incident by the so called all other liberal progressives parties like Greens or the left that pretends to be all for women’s rights and equality

When Boris Johnson had to step down for throwing parties in No. 10 while simultaneously enforcing strict COVID-19 lockdowns, did you also perceive that to mean that British people are just really anti-partying?

> The reason he had to give up his position was not his hypocrisy. If that’s the case then 99% of all politicians would have to give up their positions.

No, you're lying. His colleagues publicly asked Spahn to resign explicitly because of the hypocrisy: https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/spahn-ruecktrittsforderunge...

Over the last few weeks, I've noticed you sharing many such misinformed framings of current news in Germany. May I ask why?

> Even if he was a supporter of surrogacy, he would still be forced to step back because surrogacy is illegal in Germany. Further, there was no debate or discussions on making surrogacy legal after that incident by the so called all other liberal progressives parties like Greens or the left that pretends to be all for women’s rights and equality

Just like the last few times you claimed "there was no debate" on a topic in Germany: yes there was, it just doesn't follow your caricaturesque understanding of leftist politics.

Ha have you heard yourself? “You’re lying! - it was his hypocrisy about his completely illegal behaviour not the completely illegal behaviour.”

Yes, I do! Spahn is infamous for doing lots of illegal stuff, and none of it resulted in him stepping back, until the surrogacy story. His constituents and his party publicly criticized him for his bigotry and asked him to step back. Which part do you have trouble following?

If you were mildly familiar with the situation, you'd know that.

It's not someone deliberately lying though is it.

What? How is it not a deliberate lie?

but it is compared to the US. It's not perfect or ideal but like... you can freely move to a place in the EU that's better for you?

In some ways it's fitting though, the chaos and infighting of the EU mirrors the structure of our own confederation.

Provinces in Canada have strong powers and much of the same back and forth trade and regional politico-economic bickering as what happens between EU member states. Much more so than US states.

The vibe is familiar at least.

> This is the same EU who once reduced the Canadian trade minister to (literal) tears

It actually was "near tears", and this was because one region of Belgium was holding up what seemed so close. Eh. It isn't about them tearing up or changing or anything, or a tyrannical rapist king having a tantrum about some stupid bullshit, it was a negotiator frustrated that everything seemed to be held up by one small agricultural region. I don't know what you think this demonstrates.

> the EU has never ratified the Canada FTA and everyone's just sort of pretending it did for convenience's sake.

Greater than 98% of the provisions of CETA are in place since the original ratification. Which is why everyone "sorts of pretends", because for all intents it is in force in every meaningful way.

You either seem misinformed or deliberately misleading, but CETA has two phases. By far the most important, which the EU ratified fully. There is a very small component about an investor's court system that impinges on country-level domains exclusively, so it requires a separate ratification. But on the whole it is a minuscule part of the agreement, and is basically wholly unnecessary.

> Worth adding that Europe is far more protectionist than the US, so this is economically farcical

Ignoring the thing I just said, this is comical given literally everything over the past two years. Like, are you authoring your comment from a time loop or something, because in the current situation it is cartoonishly stupid.

Oh wait, you're a freshly created troll account just to drop this sort of "wisdom". ROFL.

> This is the same EU who once reduced the Canadian trade minister to (literal) tears

Wow. That's really pathetic. I'm ashamed as a Canadian. I don't want someone who can be reduced to tears by a negotiation negotiating on my behalf.

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