Let Canada join in too.
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I'm not convinced the EU is monolithic enough for bad blood to matter, there's enough member states with enough history that someone will always have issues with someone.
What I do believe will be a point of contention though are all the special dispensations the UK have had. With the power balance as it is today, UK might have to face membership on equal terms with the other member states this time around.
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Do you realise that has things stand, even Canada's electricity grid prevents from joining the single market and therefore the EU? Either they would need to get the mother of all opt outs, convert all their appliances and grid to 240v, or all appliances would need to be dual voltage (hiking up the costs for everyone).
And then every single product regulation is currently aligned with the US. Even countries that were closer to EU regulations took a decade to fix that, so Canada will probably take at least that.
In the short term it makes more sense to focus on sector by sector free trade and free movement agreements.
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As a dual Belgian-French citizen living in an English-speaking EU country that was once a possession of the Crown (and is still part of the Commonwealth), I can't help but agree.
The ties between the UK and its (former or not) empire are still strong and somehow tying it to the EU would benefit both parties.
It would be interesting to do a poll in the UK now about rejoining, even the Brexiters may have changed their minds, they were sold freedom and got mostly misery. -
Yeah, the UK would be bargaining from a weak position. As a founding member of the EU it was bargaining from a strong one and could get concessions.
But, maybe if they say "hey, let us in and give us some exceptions and we'll let you talk to our good buddy Canada"...
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Yeah, Canada couldn't join the EU as a normal member state. It's not just electricity, everything's different. Different rules for highways and cars, different food safety rules, different worker safety regulations.
But, what if they started with freer movement of people. What if they made it easier for doctors and nurses to have that degree recognized in the other jurisdiction. And just make it easier for Canadians to work in Europe and Europeans to work in Canada without the current visa approval process.
Changing up the entire electrical system might be the project of a lifetime. OTOH, the EU made that recent ruling that every charger / chargeable had to be USB-C. Even though the electrical systems are different, USB-C is the same for everyone (well, ignoring that's a mess of a spec with thousands of weird variations). So, the various parties could work together on future specs involving USB-C and whatever comes after that.
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I'm guessing... Malta?
Yeah, Canada's day-to-day culture is very American. The same TV shows are popular, the same sports, same celebrities, etc. But, the legal and political setup is still very British. And, it's times like this that we really appreciate how different that part still is from the US.
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I hate "Noo, it's gonna take us soo long, so we shouldn't do it!" Yes, it's gonna take time so maybe just start? The best time to begin a long process was yesterday, the second best is now. Nobody says "things have to be perfect tomorrow" but not starting overall is not gonna change anything.
Instead of asking "how long is it going to take?", we should rather just ask "is it a desirable outcome?" and if yes, just start.
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Which is why I said focus on the baby steps that are actually doable now.
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That's the way the EU itself was formed as well. It started as "European Economic Community" or "European Common Market". It was then transformed to "European Community" and finally to "European Union". Those Agreements go stepwise this is what could happen here
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UK was not a founding member.
https://enlargement.ec.europa.eu/enlargement-policy/6-27-members_en
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If you agree to a Free Trade Agreement without these stupid undemocratic arbitration courts, it could work out
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Great ideas!
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I think they mean Ireland
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Not part of the Commonwealth since 1949.
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Oh right...
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They were a founding member in the way Musk "founds" companies: joining later and getting a lot of influence due to wealth
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As a founding member of the EU.
They were not a founding member though. They joined in 1973-1975 and have negotiated many exceptions to the EEC, causing other memberstates sometimes a bit of headaches.
"Brenter " would be a good idea, but like it's been said, there are ( British) political and systematic (compliance) hurdles. But they can be overcome.
Imo, Britain needs to clean the house first, from the lying (Ukip )traitors, who sold your country out.
Also, during crises, lots can happen, quickly. Necessity is a huge drive force, especially in Politics, maybe we'll all be pleasantly surprised. -
IMO there’s some bad blood between the UK and the EU.
Not so much that it matters. The financial industry wants them back in the fold. It would be a win-win for UK and EU. But there is one or two maybe major cons for the UK: They won't get the UK rebate back and they won't get any other exceptions. That means they'll have to switch to the Euro.
They'll probably accept paying the same as the other member states but I'm not sure if they'll accept the Euro.
