Newsletter: Carney is right on EU associate membership - the name is irrelevant, the politics aren’t

Welcome back to this newsletter, written en route from Strasbourg to Brussels, after a week of parliamentary coverage. In case you missed it, Mark Carney stole the show and Canada is our new associate BFF, whatever that means.It's easy to be cynical about the Canadian Prime Minister, but anyone who makes an intellectual effort citing Goethe on a Thursday morning gets my attention amid the sea of poor orators that populate the annual State of the Union (the EU's, to be clear).Carney chose his references deliberately, reaching for Faust right off the bat. One can only hope the MEPs — including the gentleman who shouted "USA! USA!" as he took the stand — appreciated the reference. Goethe argued that freedom is neither a condition nor a possession: it must be conquered.