Rumbling away throughout 2024 was EU threats to take action against Twitter/X for abandoning fact-checking. The EU's Digital Services Act (DSA) is clear on its requirements - so that conflict will escalate. If X won't change, presumably ultimately it will be banned from the EU.
Meta have decided they'd rather keep EU market access. Today they announced the removal of fact-checking, but only for Americans. Europeans can still benefit from the higher standards the Digital Services Act guarantees.
The next 10 years will see the power of mis/disinformation accelerate with AI. Meta itself seems to be embracing this trend by purposefully integrating fake AI profiles into its networks. From now on it looks like the main battle-ground to deal with this is going to be the EU.
Literally yes. Cyprus is in the EU, while being part of the Middle East. Being a French-English European clone country with a Danish land border and a strong democracy gives us good odds of qualifying as "substantially European".
The real problem there is that we couldn't technically have our own currency, and the US border would probably be a lot harder to cross as it would be the Schengen border. Also, it might make Trump pay a lot more attention in a bad way. Honestly it still seems like a good deal to me, though.
Poland, Sweden and the Czech Republic don't use the Euro. It's really not mandatory, but it's beneficial to all countries at comparable economic development level. I think Portugal, Spain, Ireland, Greece and perhaps Italy would have benefitted from using their own currencies for a while longer. The minimum wage on some of those countries is incredibly low and the goods prices too high for the Euro. This is not the case with Poland, for instance, where goods are cheaper.
The biggest issue with Canada is population, same as Ukraine and Turkey as of this moment. The EU is scared that adding a member state that has a population size comparable to the bigger states already within will create a power imbalance. This issue is getting more problematic as time goes on since our population is currently shrinking. If the EU takes in Ukraine, they will probably balk at adding a state as big as Canada anytime soon.
TIL. Is it just the Schengen you have to join eventually?
Ukraine is a corrupt (slava and all but it's true) eastern European country and I assume it will take some time to pass through the candidate stage. I really hope Canada could change a few regulations faster than that.
It is mandatory but some countries have opted to join it in the future. Only Denmark isnt required to join the Eurozone, everyone else is expected to join it(at some point). Denmark is the only EU country that has negotiated an opt-out.
Another issue is that any country can veto tax and foreign policies. Thats why Hungary is so problematic, with Orban blocking everything. Ultimately, the EU's prime directive is the avoidance of war in a continent that has had way too many wars. You could argue for Ukraine and Turkey being relevant regarding that but i dont see Canada being relevant.
Honestly in political terms saying you'll join at some undefined point in the future is not saying anything. That will be an entire new government who may or may not agree with it. Besides like another commenter said, everything about the EU is negotiable.
I was thinking maybe the problems with Canada would be more in matters of regulation voting, not so much wars or foreign policy. Canada has a different mindset, not exactly like Americans but in the same thought space, possibly due to their shared origins as an European colony with a vast continent to expand to and also because of US influence. Canadians just don't like restrictive regulations. One could argue that equally as important as avoidance of wars and directly correlated is the regulation of commerce, seeing as the EU officially started as a coal and steel regulatory trade international organ. I imagine such a large body of population would clash with certain regulations we have in the EU, but nothing that couldn't be worked out.
But organizations like the EU live and die on trade and that's why i ultimately i don't see why Canada should try for the EU, despite me thinking they would be welcome. It's why i think the commonwealth is kind of useless nowadays as an economic tool. Their primary body of trade is the Americas, with Asia and Europe being secondary markets. Too bad the US is too far up its own back to cooperate with anyone without ruining it with greed. In an equal partnership of open borders and free trade, US, Mexico and Canada would be huge.
Ukraine won't join the EU
The irony of all of it is that technically I can become a dual citizen anytime I wanted to file the paperwork since my parents are Portuguese citizens. But up until recently I've never felt the need for that particular escape valve.
I've always known I would have to get it eventually in order to handle my now ageing father's finances over there when he passes. And I always regretted not doing it when I was young and free to travel before life gets one bogged down in trivialities.
Yeah, I would get that in order sooner rather than later. Having you papers ready to go is emergency planning 101.
In my case, Israel is not an improvement, lol.
It's not that you can become a dual citizen. You are a dual citizen you just haven't requested any evidence of that from Portugal
He's already talking about annexing you and he hasn't even taken office, how much worse could it be?
Famous last words, lol.
The dude is incoherent, so it's hard to tell if he says annexation but means a 5% tariff, or if he's serious and also going to decimate the population to show who's boss. Intending one and then forgetting to do it is also an option. If he really means it, Canada's military is a joke, that won't change in under a month, and the rest of the Western world probably can't help in that timeframe either.
That being said, he actually just ruled out using military force to get Canada. Panama and Greenland are valid military targets according to the same press conference, though.
You don't have to use the euro or join the Schengen area to be part of the EU afaik
I thought it was a "you have to join both eventually" thing.
Those are mandatory for newcomers.
Everything is negotiable in the EU😁