Joachim Streit has by no means stepped foot in Canada. However that hasn’t stopped the German politician from launching a tenacious, one-man marketing campaign that he readily describes as “aspirational”: to have the North American nation be part of the EU.
“We’ve to strengthen the European Union,” mentioned Streit, who final 12 months was elected as a member of the European parliament. “And I believe Canada – as its prime minister says – is probably the most European nation exterior of Europe.”
Streit had lengthy imagined Canada as a type of paradise, dwelling to dense forests that course with broad, speeding rivers. However after Donald Trump returned to energy, launching a lot of the world right into a commerce struggle and turning his again on America’s conventional allies, Streit started to solid the northern nation in a brand new mild.
What he noticed was a comparatively unexplored relationship, one that would show mutually useful because the world grapples with quickly reshaping international dynamics. “Canadians have seen their belief within the US undermined, simply as we’ve in Europe, following President Trump’s actions,” he mentioned. “We have to strengthen the ties that bind us to our buddies.”
Whereas he admitted that the potential of Canada as a full member of the EU “could also be aspirational for now”, he puzzled if it was an thought whose time had come.
“Canada can be a powerful member,” he mentioned. “If Canada can be a member of the EU, it would rank 4th when it comes to GDP. It’s a part of Nato. And 58% of (working-age) Canadians have school levels.”
Canada additionally has huge vitality reserves – an asset that would show helpful to the bloc, which remains to be struggling to wean itself off Russian fuel, he added.
Since launching his marketing campaign final month, Streit has develop into probably the most seen proponent of an unlikely proposition that has been gaining traction since Trump started floating the concept of Canada because the 51st state.
In late January, a former overseas minister of Germany, Sigmar Gabriel, referred to as for Canada to be invited into the EU. “They’re extra European than some European member states anyway,” he informed Germany’s Pioneer Media.
Media shops on each side of the Atlantic have delved into the concept, whereas a February ballot of 1,500 Canadians discovered 44% of them believed Canada ought to look into becoming a member of the EU.
In March, nevertheless, a European spokesperson appeared to pour chilly water on the suggestion, citing an article within the EU treaty that specifies solely European states can apply to affix the EU.
Streit disregarded the technicality, pointing to France’s abroad territories. “These are additionally not in Europe, however these islands belong to the European Union,” he mentioned. Cyprus, thought-about EU territory however situated geographically in west Asia, was one other instance.
And if one needed to get technical, Canada was – albeit in a minuscule means – linked geographically to Europe, he mentioned. “Greenland, which belongs to Denmark, shares a border with Canada,” he mentioned, pointing to the divide that runs by means of the uninhabited half-mile sq. Hans Island.
In April, Streit submitted a written query to the European parliament, asking whether or not the treaty article stipulating that states have to be European may very well be interpreted in a means that would permit for Canadian membership or, barring that, if it may very well be legally revised. He has but to obtain a response.
Undaunted, he despatched a letter to 2 EU commissioners calling for a type of political Erasmus to be launched between the bloc and Canada. What he envisions is knowledgeable trade programme that might permit EU officers to higher grasp the nuances of Canadian federalism and Canadians to get a way of the workings of European establishments.
“It could function each a symbolic and sensible step towards deeper integration,” he mentioned, one that would construct on present ties such because the EU-Canada commerce deal and Canada’s participation within the EU’s flagship science analysis programme, Horizon.
Since launching the marketing campaign, he’s been in fixed contact with Canadians; assembly twice with one in all Canada’s high-ranking envoys to the EU and assembly with a Brussels-based affiliation that promotes Canada-EU commerce.
As information spreads of his efforts, his workplace has acquired a handful of emails of help. Some have supplied up their very own ideas on the best way to skirt round Canada’s geographic location; one current electronic mail laid out what the author described as a “killer argument”, stating that as a part of the Commonwealth Canada was tied to the UK and, by extension, Europe.
Streit took it one step additional. “And who’s the pinnacle of Canada?” he requested, pointing to King Charles. “And he’s a European.”
Streit mentioned he was nicely conscious that, for all his efforts, the concept could show to be unattainable. Even so, he hoped that the second may very well be seized on to not less than hammer out the sort of deep ties the bloc has with international locations comparable to Norway or Switzerland.
“Generally in historical past, the home windows of alternative open and shut once more,” he mentioned. “And typically, the home windows of alternative are open just for a quick second.”
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