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EU should expand to 40 states – including Canada

cnbc.com

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Re: EU should expand to 40 states – including Canada

#11

Post by boxed »

inglor_cz wrote: post #4

Knowing when to stop is a non-trivial virtue, unfortunately politicians love to build empires. It would be more natural to add Turkey than Canada, provided that Erdogan dies or otherwise loses power. (At this moment, I don't believe in him losing power peacefully.) At least it is contiguous with Europe and even though majority Islamic, the population isn't fanatic about it and there is a clear cultural continuity wit…

Turkey is a failed experiment of having an islamic majority nation that is modern and democratic. Ataturk made a really good effort, but I don't think it's coming back from the brink, not until there's an enlightenment in islam or islam just fades away.

Re: EU should expand to 40 states – including Canada

#12

Post by graemep »

Hamuko wrote: post #8
827a wrote: post #6

Didn’t the UK not six years ago vote to leave the EU? Is he suggesting that there’s demand from Britain to reverse that? Or is he suggesting they be forced to rejoin?

Majority support at least. https://yougov.com/en-gb/articles/52410-nine-years-after-the... https://yougov.com/en-gb/articles/54567-how-strong-is-uk-sup...

Polls before the Brexit referendum also showed a majority for remaining.

Re: EU should expand to 40 states – including Canada

#13

Post by seanhunter »

inglor_cz wrote: post #4

Knowing when to stop is a non-trivial virtue, unfortunately politicians love to build empires. It would be more natural to add Turkey than Canada, provided that Erdogan dies or otherwise loses power. (At this moment, I don't believe in him losing power peacefully.) At least it is contiguous with Europe and even though majority Islamic, the population isn't fanatic about it and there is a clear cultural continuity wit…

> It would be more natural to add Turkey than Canada

Yes. In fact we would not be the first to call Turkey “Europe”. In ancient Greece they used the name “Europe” to refer to part of Thrace that is now in Turkey.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europa_(consort_of_Zeus)#Conti...

Re: EU should expand to 40 states – including Canada

#15

Post by AndrewDucker »

graemep wrote: post #12
Hamuko wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Majority support at least. https://yougov.com/en-gb/articles/52410-nine-years-after-the... https://yougov.com/en-gb/articles/54567-how-strong-is-uk-sup...

Polls before the Brexit referendum also showed a majority for remaining.

A few percent either way: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_United...

As opposed to a 20-ish% lead for Rejoin at the moment: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potential_re-accession_of_the_...

Re: EU should expand to 40 states – including Canada

#16

Post by Esn024 »

Maybe they should focus on putting their own house in order first by not making constant self-sabotaging decisions that hurt themselves, benefit the United States, and alienate their other neighbors. The European Union has declined from 30% to 17% percent of world GDP from 2008-2025, three times faster than China's analogous decline at the beginning of its "Century of Humiliation", which took it 50 years from 1820-1870: https://xcancel.com/RnaudBertrand/status/2062096610239082912 But I fear the worst is yet to come, because what's happening has not sunk in yet.

So, despite liking various countries in the EU as places to visit, I have to ask what benefit would Canada get from joining such a structure at this point?

Re: EU should expand to 40 states – including Canada

#17

Post by Hamuko »

graemep wrote: post #12
Hamuko wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Majority support at least. https://yougov.com/en-gb/articles/52410-nine-years-after-the... https://yougov.com/en-gb/articles/54567-how-strong-is-uk-sup...

Polls before the Brexit referendum also showed a majority for remaining.

It was a +2 lead for Remain. Not the +21 that there is for rejoining.

https://yougov.com/en-us/articles/15767-final-eve-vote-brexi...

Re: EU should expand to 40 states – including Canada

#19

Post by graemep »

There seems to be no reason given for why this would be good, nor does it address the reasons why enlargement has not happened.

Would people in the EU be generally keen on the largest EU country being a not quite white enough Muslim majority country? Would they like EU borders with Iran, Iraq and Syria?

He implies its the threat posed by Russia. The EU is not a military alliance. There is a reasonable argument that Europe needs a military alliance that is not dependent on the US, but the EU is not it.

In many ways enlargement weakens the EU, as does "ever closer union". Both create more internal division. The UK would not have left if the EEC if it had remained the same organisation it was in the 80s.

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