Archived version

…

While [Joachim Streit, a Member of the European Parliament of Free Voters] admitted that the possibility of Canada as a full member of the EU “may be aspirational for now”, he wondered if it was an idea whose time had come.

“Canada would be a strong member,” he said. “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 also has vast energy reserves – an asset that could prove useful to the bloc, which is still struggling to wean itself off Russian gas, he added.

Since launching his campaign last month, Streit has become the most visible proponent of an unlikely proposition that has been gaining traction since Trump began floating the idea of Canada as the 51st state.

In late January, a former foreign minister of Germany, Sigmar Gabriel, called for Canada to be invited into the EU. “They are more European than some European member states anyway,” he told Germany’s Pioneer Media.

Media outlets on both sides of the Atlantic have delved into the idea, while a February poll of 1,500 Canadians found 44% of them believed Canada should look into joining the EU.

…

In April, Streit submitted a written question to the European parliament, asking whether the treaty article stipulating that states must be European could be interpreted in a way that could allow for Canadian membership or, barring that, if it could be legally revised. He has yet to receive a response.

…

Since launching the campaign, he’s been in constant contact with Canadians; meeting twice with one of Canada’s high-ranking envoys to the EU and meeting with a Brussels-based association that promotes Canada-EU trade.

As news spreads of his efforts, his office has received a handful of emails of support. Some have offered up their own thoughts on how to skirt around Canada’s geographic location; one recent email laid out what the writer described as a “killer argument”, pointing out that as part of the Commonwealth Canada was tied to the UK and, by extension, Europe.

…