COLUMN. The Canadian prime minister has called for an alliance of middle powers to stand up to the world's great powers. This is a compelling idea, and one that Europe has been pursuing for 60 years, writes Le Monde columnist Pascal Riché.

cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/46886810

The American president has invited Canada to become his country’s “51st state,” an idea that has infuriated most of Canada’s 40 million citizens.

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Hence this suggestion: Why not expand the EU to include Canada? Is that so far-fetched an idea? In any case, Canadians have actually considered the question themselves. In February 2025, a survey conducted by Abacus Data on a sample of 1,500 people found that 44% of those polled supported the idea, compared to 34% who opposed it. Better the 28th EU country than the 51st US state!

One might object: Canada is not European, as required for EU membership by Article 49 of the EU Treaty. But what does “European” actually mean? The word cannot be understood in a strictly geographic sense, or Cyprus, closer to Asia, would not be part of the EU. So the term must be understood in a cultural sense.

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As [Canadian Prime Minister Mark] Carney said in Paris, in March: Thanks to its French and British roots, Canada is “the most European of non-European countries.” He speaks from experience, having served as governor of the Bank of England (a post that is assigned based on merit, not nationality). Culturally and ideologically, Canada is close to European democracies: It shares the same belief in the welfare state, the same commitment to multilateralism and the same rejection of the death penalty or uncontrolled firearms.

Moreover, Canada is a Commonwealth monarchy that shares a king with the United Kingdom.

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Even short of a formal application, it would be wiser for Ottawa to strengthen its ties with European democracies rather than with the Chinese regime. The temptation is there: Just before heading to Davos, Carney signed an agreement with Beijing to lower tariffs on electric vehicles imported from China.

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  • shawn1122@sh.itjust.works
    1·
    19 hours ago

    This will never happen since the Americans would see it as intentionally antagonizing. They’ve made it clear they see the Western hemisphere as theirs.

    In fact, in response they may take more deliberate action to capture control of Canada coercively. Being part of the EU would provide no meaningful protection against that. It would unnecessarily invite a more aggressive American posture towards Canada.

    If Carney did this it would be one of the biggest blunders in modern political history. Thankfully he’s a pretty smart guy. There’s very little value in joining the EU for Canada.

    There may be overlap in values but Europe is not what it used to be. Much of the worlds economic growth will be driven by the global south for the next thirty years so Carney is wise to prioritize carefully calculated deals with those countries.

    He will be travelling to India next, let’s see what he can secure as far as a trade deal goes. The EU and India are celebrating their recently signed free trade agreement, perhaps Carney will follow suit.