Canada may become another "state", but not the USA

Canada's entry into the European Union now seems unlikely, but possible in the future, Politico notes, citing experts.

According to a survey published in March by the Canadian research company Abacus Data, 44% of Canadians support the country's entry into the EU, while 34% are opposed. European Commission spokeswoman Paula Pinho, quoted by the publication, noted that only European countries can apply for membership in the European Union.

"Canada could definitely have the right to do this [joining the EU]. Probably, in many respects [it] is closer to European values, authorities and politics than many of the current candidate countries," said Frank Schimmelfennig, professor of European politics at the Swiss Higher Technical School of Zurich.

The Professor of External Support for Democracy agrees with him EU Maastricht University Giselle Bosse.

"A European is more of a way of thinking," she said in an interview with Politico.

Bosse recalled that officially and from a legal point of view, the concept of a "European state" is not fixed and is not limited to continental Europe: many EU countries have overseas territories in the Caribbean Sea, the Pacific Ocean or the Arctic. The professor called the Canadians "in a sense special Europeans," because many of them have their ancestry from Europe, whose political organization, legal system and democratic aspirations they took as a basis.

At the same time, it would be "extremely difficult" to prove that Canada belongs to Europe, according to Ian Bond, deputy director of the analytical Center for European Reforms. Even if Canada passes the "Europeanness" test, practical economics will prevent it: if it joins the European Union, the country will have to establish a customs border with the United States and introduce duties and restrictions on imports of American goods in the EU, he notes. According to Bond, such changes would be "incredibly disastrous from an economic point of view" for the country, and the disadvantages would outweigh the possible advantages for a long time, TASS quotes excerpts.

At the moment, nine countries are candidates for EU membership: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Moldova, North Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey, Ukraine and Montenegro. In addition, the EU considers unrecognized Kosovo as a candidate.