Former German foreign minister suggests Canada should be part of EU

Cool. I'm not offended by that. 28th member sounds respecta. 51st state, not so much. 😂

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Nah we just need a fancy team name for the not-absolute-fuck-head countries.
I mean EU is Europe and I fucking love you guys but down here in Australia we can't just up and move the continent to Europe.
I don't think the name should be dependent on membership like BRICS or whatever because you don't want to have to rebrand when you kick someone out or let someone in.
I think it should include a word like collaborative because honestly, that's what it's about - we're better off working together.
It's also important to choose a name with a catchy acronym that isn't already taken.
Maybe Collaborative Union of Nice Terran States.
- A-tier shitpost 👍
- EBU EU whats the difference?
  If Australia can be part of the Eurovision song contest so It can be of the EU. Also everybody already asume anyway that you are just Austria.
- Let's go CUNTS!
- But its about European values. Compassion, democracy, empathy, forgiveness and freedom
  
  I still would not call them European values, it comes of as values that exist in Europe and nowhere else. And I'd rather have compassion, democracy etc everywhere.
  
  As a European, I don't think we can claim exclusive ownership of those concepts.
- I like "Commonwealth".
  But I re-read your comment and the initialism is a solid option.
  
  Yeah but commonwealth has connotations that don't apply.
  
  How about "The Commonsense"?
  
  That would be confusing since then Canada would be part of two commonwealths.
- How about just, free world. The rest are fascist dictatorships anyway.
  
  Not true, there's also we poor countries who can't afford hanging around with the nice guys in the block
  
  We're also democratic, we should call it the free democratic coalition of states.
  Its not like there is any bad precedent in using names like this, like democratic republic of korea, or just referring to USA as "land of the free"...
- You just answered yourself. Just call it CUNAFHC - Collaborative Union of Not-Absolute-Fuck-Head-Countries

Canada joins EU, blue states join Canada. Bada bing, bada boom
- The majority of people even in blue states were fine with Trump. No thanks, they can stay where they are.

It doesn't really make sense for Canada to be a member of the EU simply because Canada isn't in Europe. What we could do is grant Canada a deal similar to what Norway has now. We're one of four members of EFTA, which are part of the EEA without being EU members.
I must admit that my knowledge of Canada is shallow at best but my impression is that its overall values align well with western European democracies.
- This is exactly what I was thinking.

It would mean replacing The CAD with the EUR, would be kinda funny to see EU flags on the border between the US and Canada though...
- In fact, the following EU countries do not (yet) use the euro, but their own currency:
  Bulgaria
  Czech Republic
  Hungary
  Poland
  Romania
  Sweden
  
  Also Denmark.
  
  In theory they're legally obligated to switch one day. In practice Romania is being blocked by other EU members.
- You can still decorate your Euros how you want, so we could keep our beavers and loons.
  
  You have loons on your doubloons? 👀
- I want this if only just to see Vance complaining about EU expansion at their border.
  No need for them to adopt the Euro though. Many EU countries are still on their original currency even now.

As much as I like Canada compared to the US, they are not European by any stretch of the imagination. I'd be for free trade and free movement as a beginning, but part of the European Union is a bit much.
- It's not possible by current legislation aswell. You need to be on the European continent to join the EU.
  
  Fun fact: being located on the European continent is actually not a requirement. It is only mentioned that you need to be "European" which is open to interpretation (although, of course the continent comes to mind first). It basically says you have to have some relation towards being European, whether that is by politics, culture or by location (preferrably all of the above).
  The best example would be Cyprus, which is actually located on the Asian continent but is culturally closer to Europe than Asia.
  Canada feels like one of the more "European" leaning countries considering this. That said, I think the chance of them joining the EU in the close future admittedly feels pretty low. But you never know, maybe the EU evolves into something of a counter concept to whatever is happening in the USA right now.
  
  No, technically you just need to be "European", which is never strictly defined anywhere. It was being considered that Algeria join after all, but it didn't happen because of the civil war (from my understanding of the situation). Canada is one of the most European-like non Europe countries, so it would kinda fit.
  
  aswell
  Not a word, my dude.

EU & Friends
- Actually, the EU has a whole bouquet of options for countries that want to cooperate with it. It can be trade agreements, free trade area, currency union, Schengen Area and so on. Norway, Switzerland and Turkey are examples of different degrees of associated status.
  But be aware that any full EU membership would non-negotiable include the right of not only companies but also people to move freely in the common area - yes, that would mean that any EU citizen has the right to move to and live in Canada, and vice versa, as long as these persons can support themselves.
  
  Discrimination against people that can't support themselves.

Sigma Gabriel
- W name in this context lmao frfr ong

If Canada joins EU, should we change its name? Any suggestions?
- Why change? Canada is a perfectly good name.
  
  I didn't even realise this comment was a joke and was confused at OPs question, until I realized they were thinking about the EU.
- We could name it the UE. United Earth.
  
  Why not EU (earth united)
  
  Federated union of nations.
  
  Super Earth. Our home.
- Well you could say it's a treaty of organisations all located by the North Atlantic... TONA? I dunno, it could never work!
  
  ATON - Atlantic Treaty Organization of the North?
  
  Should be something that works in most languages
- Northern Union? Atlantic Union?
  Honestly keeping it the EU might be the easiest.

I completely forgot that this guy was our foreign minister for over a year.
- What, you forgot all about Siggie den Grätenlosen, Siggie the Fishboneless?

Let's do it.

And California, Washington, Oregon and Hawaii please 🙏🏼
- C.h.o.w? Nice.

The geese took that personal.
- Nothing personnel kid
- Don't worry, they physically can't get any angrier. The people on the other hand mostly support the idea of joining.

From the limited stuff I know about Canada, please no. They only seem reasonable because they are only ever compared to usa.
- lol wut? This is the first anti-Canadian comment I've ever heard. Canadians are unreasonable? "I do not know much about them, but in my self-admittedly ignorant opinion I think they are an unreasonable people". Wouldn't that make us fit right in if everyone in EU was like you?
  lmao. I'm going to be laughing about your comment for the rest of the day. Thank you.
  
  What's the internet regulation like in Canada? What's fiber penetration like? What about public transport? What's Canada's stance on green and renewables? How are votes counted? Is the Canada pro-regulation?
  
  Treatment of the indigenous people is the first thing that comes to mind. 5 eyes, black face, (re?)electing a crack smoker.
  Just the 5 eyes thing is a deal breaker for me.
- I wonder what you're thinking of. On just about every issue there's somewhere in Europe further right or further left. Since this is Lemmy you probably don't mean we like immigrants too much.

With the increasing far-right influence in the EU, Canada should steer well clear. Unless that's something they'd like to contribute to themselves.
- The far right is currently collapsing here, and was never as prominent as in France or Germany in the first place.