SunshineCanada in the European Union? Poll suggests broad openness to the idea
A further 58 per cent indicated it was a proposal worth exploring further
digital_diggerIt makes sense because right now UE is running so smooothly. Everyone interests are aligned.
nkat2112
SatansMaggotyCumFartHow hard is it to move a country to get it into the EU?
Assuming you don’t have a couple hundred million years.
What is kinda wild to me is that I have read about a dozen articles like this and not one of them actually indicates what benefit Canada would get from joining the EU, apart from ‘we all know that America sucks’, but being in the EU doesn’t actually solve that either.
Some things I can think of:
It provides a better chance to mutually recognize education and professional experience. It helps with both our export markets to each other. It motivates us to improve our tax system and other archaic regulations. We have an easier time at border checkpoints and can more easily immigrate for work across continents. We can move to a Euro-pegged currency or the Euro itself if we so choose and meet the European fiscal standards.
acargitzWe can improve Canada in any way we want. We don’t need the EU to do that. There is nothing that stops us from recognizing EU credentials but ourselves.
I don’t see how pegging the CAD to the Euro would be useful.
I agree on negotiating freedom of movement, potentially joining Schengen. Same for negotiating recognition of Canadian credentials in Europe although that’s less of a problem, usually the other direction is the problem.
There are some ups and downsides to the member perks. As for the exchange rate, we could have a stable bloc rate rather than one that is more or less correlated to the price of oil or US events.
We can accept credentials but the bigger benefit is if the Bloc can accept Canadian ones, which is best achieve through agreement.
I think that joining the Schengen Area is inclusive of people’s idea of “open to discussion of Canada joining Europe”. Do we want or need to join the EU tomorrow? In my opinion not really but its a good time to foster a closer relationship and gradually remove barriers between Canada and the bloc.
Alaknárnot one of them actually indicates what benefit Canada would get from joining the EU
Do you just fundamentally not understand what the EU is, or are you looking for some specific details?
Weird that its hard for you you to understand what the question here is.
What is the benefit to Canada of joining the EU?
samus12345What benefit do any countries get from being in the EU? It’d be that.
Cool, so I can use my rail pass to go from Berlin to Ottawa?
And that’s the ONLY benefit?
NiquarlOne economic union without hurdles, freedom of movement inside the schengen area? Increased cooperation between other EU member states? Haven’t you heard Carney’s speech about middle powers?
mercAlso, being in the EU means meeting a lot of product, drug, food, etc. safety standards.
Just to pick one, to meet electricity standards, Canadian outlets would have to accept Type C Europlug devices and supply them with 230V at 50 Hz. That would mean redoing the entire Canadian electrical grid in a way that would make it incompatible with the American one. I don’t think that’s realistic.
More realistic is some variation of the deal that the EU has with Switzerland. Not in the EU but lots of bilateral deals that mostly make the border disappear for travellers.
MrMakabar
It kinda makes sense when you thinkabout greenland.
It would if Greenland were in the EU. And it’s odd that it isn’t. But Greenland isn’t “part of” Denmark. They form a union along with the Faroe Islands and chose to leave the EU.
We should develop much closer commercial and other ties (eg regulatory) with the EU but Canada should not outright join. We don’t need the Euro and we don’t need the European Stability and Growth Pact. Lower as many barriers, but we have to keep control of our basic economic policy levers.
Edit: by the way, after looking it up, I’m finding that EU rules about “State Aid” would make the new NDP platform (Avi Lewis campaigned on public options and Crown corporations for various sectors, and buy-canadian rules to protect workers during the green transition) infeasible. So… no, I’m not interested in joining an economic bloc that makes democratic socialism functionally impossible.
Poland doesn’t use the Euro either
super_user_doThat would be so cool