The European Commission has raised the possibility but reiterated yesterday that membership is subject to the criteria set out in the treaties.
The idea of Canada joining the European Union has been regarded with some humor by some commentators at a time when US President Donald Trump has been making a series of threats against Canada.
According to a poll published this week and carried out at the end of February by Abacus Data with a sample of 1,500 people, 44% of Canadians interviewed said they were in favor of the idea of joining the 27-country EU bloc (34% said they were against).
Is it possible to become a member?
Without explicitly answering no, the European Commission spokesperson pointed out that there are criteria laid down in the treaties. Article 49 of the Treaty on European Union states that any European state that respects, among other things, the values of human dignity, freedom and democracy, can apply to join the Union.
Defining what constitutes a “European” country is not necessarily straightforward, but demonstrating that Canada meets the criteria can be complicated, even though Canadians speak the bloc’s two main working languages: English and French.
Since returning to the White House, Donald Trump has insisted that Canada should become the 51st American state. Ahead of Wednesday’s G7 meeting in Quebec, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was asked to clarify the matter, but he refused to discuss Trump’s comments about annexing Canada to the US.
