Canada received’t turn out to be the 51st US state – however may just it sign up for the EU?

Joachim Streit hasn’t ever stepped foot in Canada. But that hasn’t stopped the German flesh presser from launching a tenacious, one-man marketing campaign that he readily describes as “aspirational”: to have the North American nation sign up for the EU.

“We have to strengthen the European Union,” mentioned Streit, who remaining yr was once elected as a member of the European parliament. “And I think Canada – as its prime minister says – is the most European country outside of Europe.”

Streit had lengthy imagined Canada as a kind of paradise, house to dense forests that direction with extensive, speeding rivers. But after Donald Trump returned to energy, launching a lot of the arena right into a industry battle 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 once a rather unexplored dating, one that might end up mutually really useful as the arena grapples with all of a sudden reshaping world dynamics. “Canadians have seen their trust in the US undermined, just as we have in Europe, following President Trump’s actions,” he mentioned. “We need to strengthen the ties that bind us to our friends.”

While he admitted that the potential for Canada as a complete member of the EU “may be aspirational for now”, he questioned if it was once an concept whose time had come.

“Canada would be a strong member,” he mentioned. “If Canada would be a member of the EU, it would rank 4th in terms of GDP. It’s part of Nato. And 58% of (working-age) Canadians have college degrees.”

Canada additionally has huge power reserves – an asset that might end up helpful to the bloc, which continues to be suffering to wean itself off Russian fuel, he added.

Since launching his marketing campaign remaining month, Streit has turn out to be probably the most visual proponent of an not likely proposition that has been gaining traction since Trump started floating the speculation of Canada because the 51st state.

In past due January, a former international minister of Germany, Sigmar Gabriel, referred to as for Canada to be invited into the EU. “They are more 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 speculation, whilst a February ballot of 1,500 Canadians discovered 44% of them believed Canada will have to glance into becoming a member of the EU.

In March, on the other hand, a European spokesperson seemed to pour chilly water at the recommendation, mentioning a piece of writing within the EU treaty that specifies simplest European states can follow to sign up for the EU.

Streit disregarded the technicality, pointing to France’s out of the country territories. “Those are also not in Europe, but those islands belong to the European Union,” he mentioned. Cyprus, thought to be EU territory however situated geographically in west Asia, was once some other instance.

And if one sought after to get technical, Canada was once – albeit in a minuscule manner – attached geographically to Europe, he mentioned. “Greenland, which belongs to Denmark, shares a border with Canada,” he mentioned, pointing to the divide that runs in the course 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 should be European may well be interpreted in some way that might permit for Canadian club or, barring that, if it may well be legally revised. He has but to obtain a reaction.

Undaunted, he despatched a letter to 2 EU commissioners calling for a kind of political Erasmus to be introduced between the bloc and Canada. What he envisions is a certified change programme that will permit EU officers to higher seize the nuances of Canadian federalism and Canadians to get a way of the workings of European establishments.

“It would serve as both a symbolic and practical step toward deeper integration,” he mentioned, one that might construct on present ties such because the EU-Canada industry deal and Canada’s participation within the EU’s flagship science analysis programme, Horizon.

Since launching the marketing campaign, he’s been in consistent touch with Canadians; assembly two times with considered one of Canada’s high-ranking envoys to the EU and assembly with a Brussels-based affiliation that promotes Canada-EU industry.

As information spreads of his efforts, his place of business has won a handful of emails of strengthen. Some have presented up their very own ideas on skirt round Canada’s geographic location; one contemporary e mail laid out what the author described as a “killer argument”, mentioning that as a part of the Commonwealth Canada was once tied to the United Kingdom and, through extension, Europe.

Streit took it one step additional. “And who is the head of Canada?” he requested, pointing to King Charles. “And he’s a European.”

Streit mentioned he was once neatly mindful that, for all his efforts, the speculation would possibly end up to be not possible. Even so, he was hoping that the instant may well be seized directly to a minimum of hammer out the type of deep ties the bloc has with international locations akin to Norway or Switzerland.

“Sometimes in history, the windows of opportunity open and close again,” he mentioned. “And sometimes, the windows of opportunity are open only for a brief moment.”