(Maybe an unpopular opinion)
I’d rather not. The EU has already experienced growing fatigue. The further away the member states are, the less they have in common and the harder it will be to agree on political topics.
People in Canada have little in common with europeans, compared to countries within the EU, which are much more alike to another. Canadians are politically, economically and stragegically much closer aligned with the US than with the EU. E.g. a Canadian does not need to care as much about the Russian threat as Poles or Fins do.
I’d love for Canada and the EU to become closer allies but I wouldn’t want them as a (current day type) member. The same goes for Australia, New Zealand or Japan. I’d love them as allies but not as EU Members.
A new Type of EU Membership though, which would profit from the single market, the euro, etc. but does not have voting power on people that actually live in europe though, I’d like.
What makes you feel Canada is closer to the US than Europe? Remember, Canada is a European settler-colonial state. Its population descends mostly from European colonists. Its institutions, culture, commercial and industrial practices, etc. all come directly from European predecessors. Canada is an offshoot of Europe. Is it the same? No, certainly not. But I would think culturally Canada is at least as similar to France or Britain as France or Britain are to Finland or Moldova. You have a point about the military threat of Russia. But then again, Canada and Russia are the countries with the two largest arctic coastlines.
We’re in the 21st century, and on a planet that is rapidly warming. You need to start thinking of this perspective:
You need to imagine a future where this ocean is populated and as active as all the other planet’s coastlines. Canada is closer to Russia than Spain or Portugal are. They don’t face a land threat from Russia, but they do face a maritime threat. Now, admittedly, the worst Canada really has to fear from Russia is perhaps Russia trying to seize Arctic resources or shipping routes from Canada. They don’t face the existential threat of direct invasion and subjugation like Finland. But then again, it’s not like Iceland is facing a serious threat of Russian invasion either.
Personally, I can see little reason for allowing Iceland but not allowing Canada. Australia and New Zealand would be similarly easy to integrate from a cultural and institutional perspective, but there distance is a bigger factor. Canada is closer to Russia than some existing EU countries. That isn’t the case for Australia. Canada might risk loosing access to Arctic resources in a war with Russia, but there’s nothing comparable for Australia or NZ.
I’m not sure what your post is really about and what exactly a possible future you imagine has to do with an EU membership today.
Also the Russia Argument was just one example I gave. There’s so much more to EU membership than just the Fear of a Russian threat. There’s economic systems, socialism, geography, culture, standardized systems, city structure, etc. For all these, Canada aligns closer to the US than to the EU.
The european settlers, ex-colony argument also holds for the US. Should we then also consider the US as an EU Member?
You need to imagine a future where this ocean is populated and as active as all the other planet’s coastlines.
That’s more a perspective of the coming centuries then it is of the coming decades though. It’s not like migration follows gradually and in line with each degree the temperature rises. Also in that scenario the temperature on the Pacific coast lines will likely rise much more then the temperature on the Atlantic coast lines because of the likely collapse of the AMOC (meaning the red line might even expand further south, perhaps making european migration away from the North Pole more likely then migration towards it).
(Maybe an unpopular opinion)
I’d rather not. The EU has already experienced growing fatigue. The further away the member states are, the less they have in common and the harder it will be to agree on political topics.
People in Canada have little in common with europeans, compared to countries within the EU, which are much more alike to another. Canadians are politically, economically and stragegically much closer aligned with the US than with the EU. E.g. a Canadian does not need to care as much about the Russian threat as Poles or Fins do.
I’d love for Canada and the EU to become closer allies but I wouldn’t want them as a (current day type) member. The same goes for Australia, New Zealand or Japan. I’d love them as allies but not as EU Members.
A new Type of EU Membership though, which would profit from the single market, the euro, etc. but does not have voting power on people that actually live in europe though, I’d like.
Thoughts and counter arguments welcome
What makes you feel Canada is closer to the US than Europe? Remember, Canada is a European settler-colonial state. Its population descends mostly from European colonists. Its institutions, culture, commercial and industrial practices, etc. all come directly from European predecessors. Canada is an offshoot of Europe. Is it the same? No, certainly not. But I would think culturally Canada is at least as similar to France or Britain as France or Britain are to Finland or Moldova. You have a point about the military threat of Russia. But then again, Canada and Russia are the countries with the two largest arctic coastlines.
We’re in the 21st century, and on a planet that is rapidly warming. You need to start thinking of this perspective:
You need to imagine a future where this ocean is populated and as active as all the other planet’s coastlines. Canada is closer to Russia than Spain or Portugal are. They don’t face a land threat from Russia, but they do face a maritime threat. Now, admittedly, the worst Canada really has to fear from Russia is perhaps Russia trying to seize Arctic resources or shipping routes from Canada. They don’t face the existential threat of direct invasion and subjugation like Finland. But then again, it’s not like Iceland is facing a serious threat of Russian invasion either.
Personally, I can see little reason for allowing Iceland but not allowing Canada. Australia and New Zealand would be similarly easy to integrate from a cultural and institutional perspective, but there distance is a bigger factor. Canada is closer to Russia than some existing EU countries. That isn’t the case for Australia. Canada might risk loosing access to Arctic resources in a war with Russia, but there’s nothing comparable for Australia or NZ.
I’m not sure what your post is really about and what exactly a possible future you imagine has to do with an EU membership today.
Also the Russia Argument was just one example I gave. There’s so much more to EU membership than just the Fear of a Russian threat. There’s economic systems, socialism, geography, culture, standardized systems, city structure, etc. For all these, Canada aligns closer to the US than to the EU.
The european settlers, ex-colony argument also holds for the US. Should we then also consider the US as an EU Member?
That’s more a perspective of the coming centuries then it is of the coming decades though. It’s not like migration follows gradually and in line with each degree the temperature rises. Also in that scenario the temperature on the Pacific coast lines will likely rise much more then the temperature on the Atlantic coast lines because of the likely collapse of the AMOC (meaning the red line might even expand further south, perhaps making european migration away from the North Pole more likely then migration towards it).