Former German Foreign Minister Gabriel proposes Canada's EU membership

[elrecoal19_0@lemmy.world]

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[azimir@lemmy.ml]

Sehr interessant!

I'm not sure how the EU charter works for geographic limits, but Canada would be a phenomenal addition to the market, especially since the US is about to blow up NAFTA and other trade agreements with Canada and Mexico.

[jmcs@discuss.tchncs.de]

This would be a nightmare for Canada. Their regulations are all aligned with the US. Products would need to be adjusted, processes would need to be changed, entire product stocks would need to be offloaded. And it would make lots of Canadian products unexportable to the US.

Even something as simple as eggs have incompatible regulations in Europe and North America.

[pistcow@lemm.ee]

Am American, would love Canada to go to EU standards and have America suffer of follow suit.

[elrecoal19_0@lemmy.world]

If I'm not mistaken, per article 49 of the Treaty on European Union, it can't.

Any European State which respects the values referred to in Article 2 and is committed to promoting them may apply to become a member of the Union. The European Parliament and national Parliaments shall be notified of this application. The applicant State shall address its application to the Council, which shall act unanimously after consulting the Commission and after receiving the consent of the European Parliament, which shall act by a majority of its component members. The conditions of eligibility agreed upon by the European Council shall be taken into account.

The conditions of admission and the adjustments to the Treaties on which the Union is founded, which such admission entails, shall be the subject of an agreement between the Member States and the applicant State. This agreement shall be submitted for ratification by all the contracting States in accordance with their respective constitutional requirements.

For example, Morocco tried applying, but was rejected because it wasn't considered an "European State". So, from my point of view, either EU amends the article to allow non-European countries to join (maybe on the basis of cultural similarities? anyways, I don't think it's even feasible), or an special agreement/set of agreements to integrate it in the EU without actually making it part of the EU.

[elrecoal19_0@lemmy.world]

For the regulations, I think slowly changing them to fit to EU standards, so industries can catch up, would be the best.

As for exports towards the US, aren't there already institutions (like the Trade and Technology Council) used by US and EU for trade to be efficient despite regulation and standard diferences?

Of course, I don't much about anything, so I'm mostly throwing stuff at the wall and see what sticks.

[kidplayer_666@lemm.ee]

You could argue for it being culturally European though

[allnewtypeface@leminal.space]

Would Canada be obliged to switch to 230V mains electricity, or could it keep 110V?

[pupbiru@aussie.zone]

it would be kinda funny if UKs former colonies joined after brexit

[pubquiz@lemmy.world]

Finally an option that doesn't involve "negotiating" with a dementia-ridden publicity whore. I'd vote YES!!!

[kbal@fedia.io]

Okay everyone, time to get started working on a Eurovision entry.

[lumidaub@feddit.org]

I mean, arguably, conditions permitting, you don't necessarily need to be an actual, full fledged member of anything to participate. But in any case, yes, please do, we need new blood.

[bobs_monkey@lemm.ee]

Retooling the entire country would be a shit show at best, and prohibitively expensive, so they'd likely stay at their current spec. Also, energy trade is quite profitable, and for geographic regions it makes sense to keep standards aligned.

[corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca]

Our borders are sound, and we're not at war.

We have a land border with Denmark and a Sea border with France.

Let's go !

[jmcs@discuss.tchncs.de]

It's not about selling electricity, it's about having a single market for electrical devices. There's no single market if most products don't work in one country. Even different AC plugs are only allowed because adapters are cheap and using different plugs for Ireland and Italy is a minor change in the production line.

[jumi@lemmy.world]

That would be so cool if I could visit Canada without any visa or other shit.

[quittenbrot@feddit.org]

Well Canada, you know what that means...:

[akasazh@feddit.nl]

Céline Dion once more, or Justin Bieber?

[hubi@feddit.org]

Georgia is a EU candidate and it's neither in Europe nor bordering a EU state. It should definitely be possible.

[brotundspiele@feddit.org]

Europe is not well defined, there are different opinions where Europe ends and Asia begins. Depending on the definition you choose, Georgia can be seen as partially or even completely in Europe.

On the other hand, there is not much discussion that the Atlantic is the western border of Europe, so Canada is definitely not in Europe.