New EU Member

I found this fantastic entry on the just as fantastic blog 3 Quarks Daily

canada_flag3_1.gif


Driving through Toronto earlier this week I saw a shiny black 4×4 with an English flag sticking out of one side window and a German flag out of the other. Presumably a Canadian family of mixed English and German origin, so rooting for both teams in the World Cup. A little later I saw a car with the Portuguese flag on one side and the Italian on the other. It occurred to me that this pretty much sums up what we’ve been trying to achieve in Europe since the second world war. Welcome to the European Union - in Canada.

In fact, why doesn’t the European Union invite Canada to join at once? In most respects it would be a much easier fit than Ukraine, let alone Turkey. It effortlessly meets the EU’s so-called Copenhagen criteria for membership, including democratic government, the rule of law, a well-regulated market economy and respect for minority rights (Canada’s a world-leader on that). Canada is rich, so would be a much-needed net contributor to the European budget at a time when the EU has been taking in lots of poorer states. One of Europe’s besetting weaknesses is disagreement between the British and the French, but on this the two historic rivals would instantly agree. English-speaking Canada would strengthen the Anglophone group in the EU, Quebec the Francophone…

Keep reading the rest of the article at the Guardian at this link. [http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,1808159,00.html]
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Related posts:

  1. monochrom @ Mercer Union
  2. Inquest in the Air?
  3. A Taste of Cameroon
  4. Taste of Asia
  5. A Facelift for Union Station

1 Comment so far

  1. Abbas Raza (unregistered) July 1st, 2006 11:32 pm

    Abbas, thanks for the plug (and the compliment!). I have enjoyed looking at your blog from time to time.

    Ciao for now,

    Abbas


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