Montecara–Euclean Community relations
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 Euclean Community |
 Montecara |
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Montecara is not a member of the Euclean Community, but it does have extensive relations with both the Community and its member states.
Movement of goods and people
Montecara has been in the Zilverzee Area since 1 January 1994. EC citizens are allowed to enter Montecara without a passport and vice versa; a national identity card that states citizenship (such as the Ùnivers card for Montecarans) is sufficient to prove nationality and the right to freedom of movement when required. The EC and Montecara have a common travel policy that allows citizens of either entity to spend up to 180 days in any 365-day period in the other visa-free for personal or business reasons. Visas are still required to work or study. The EC and Montecara also generally cooperate in judicial affairs, including extradition, the enforcement of arrest warrants, and general police matters.
The EC and Montecara have a bilateral trade agreement affording each other most-favored nation status. The EC as a whole is Montecara's largest trading partner by a wide margin in terms of both imports and exports. Montecara relies heavily on the EC for its supplies of such staples as food and consumer goods, and sends the vast majority of its main exports of precision tools, luxury goods, medical instruments, and pharmaceuticals to the EC. As part of their trade agreement, Montecara and the EC agree to respect one another's policies in regard to protected designation of origin and legally protected traditional specialty foods. Laws regarding consumer protection, workers' rights, and the environment are generally in harmony, but conformity is not a legal requirement of any current agreement. Agriculture and fisheries remain subject to certain non-tariff barriers to trade, including quotas.
Defense
Montecara is a member of the Euclean Common Defense Treaty Organization (ECDTO), which it joined at the organization's founding in 1948. It cooperates in ECDTO planning and exercises and allows member states' navies to make regular calls at its port.
Proposed membership
| EC membership proposal, 1996 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| To submit an application for membership in the Euclean Community | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date | June 28, 1996 | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Yes
No
Montecara's last serious attempt to join the EC was made in 1996, when the College of State and Senate approved a proposal for Montecara to become an official EC candidate state. The Popular Assembly, however, rejected the proposal by a margin of over 60%.
In the lead-up to the Popular Assembly vote, major trade unions came out strongly against the proposal, arguing that membership in the Community would undermine worker protections and allow an influx of cheap foreign labor into the country. Small entrepreneurs and craftsmen also feared increased competition from abroad, and renters reported concerns about increased housing costs and fewer available units in consequence of mass migration.
The financial sector, on the other hand, was strongly pro-membership, and executives of several prominent banking institutions made public statements to the effect that Montecara would stand to gain far more than it would lose by having essentially unrestricted access to a vast capital market. Many political liberals also supported membership on the basis of heightened international cooperation and the progress of the pan-Euclean project. Students and young people also generally supported membership for several reasons, including the increased ability to live, work, and study abroad.
Positions of EC member states on Montecaran membership
Montecaran membership in the EC was broadly supported by both members of the EC government and the populations of EC member states. Sitting EC President Smitty Werbenjagerman and members of his cabinet made several visits to Montecara to promote the vote. There were also private discussions in cabinet concerning contracting a marketing firm in Montecara to publish a series of advertisements promoting accession on VM railcars, but ultimately the scheme was considered too expensive with not enough potential impact on the vote.
However, a group of nations led by Solstianan President Ine Jensen was strongly opposed to the inclusion of Montecara on the basis of distrust of the government. Jensen believed that Montecaran membership would lead to the further intrusion of private banking interests at the same time that she was promoting policies in the EC which favored "diminishing partnership" financing. Privately Jensen referred to Montecaran accession as a "poison pill" which would lead to a decline in the ability of the market to regulate itself in consequence of predicted obstructionism by Montecara.