If the European Union were planning to expand beyond Europe, which country would you like to see included in it and why?
February 15, 2025
Yes, it sounds like nonsense, but let's say it changes its name, and why not dream?…
37 comments
Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, South Korea.
It would be amazing to make it a coalition of “smaller” advanced and developed economies that are not on a path to a dictatorship. As there are (or will be) two other big blocks in the world that are dictatorships.
None.
Please, stop making the EU too stupidly big and unstable. Let’s solve the problems we have right now with the current setup with, for example, federation, without the nonsense of including incompatible countries like Canada, Georgia or even Ukraine.
None, I think the EU should focus on cooperation within Europe. We should try to maintain good relations with friendly countries who share our values. But I dont think expantion beyond Europe is a smart move.
None. For the moment, we have enough problems as it is and I don’t think the EU can afford other members right now.
> why not dream
Because the last generation that dreamt up expansion, gave us a little nation which uses it’s veto to the point where the union’s decision making process mirrors that of the UN security council.
I think there should be a new alliance at least, with all Democratic European countries, Canada, Australia and Japan. Maybe more too.
None, absolutely none. If the EU was to focus on anything it should be to get the rest of Europe into EU, excluding Switzerland (cant be done), Turkey, Belarus and Russia of course.
EU should prioritize internal consolidation, ensuring that its institutions are capable of managing the curent before a larger and more diverse membership effectively.
For the European Union to function effectively as it potentially expands, it must evolve into a more federal-like structure with streamlined decision-making processes.
The current system, where individual member states—can wield veto power over critical policies, significantly hampers efficiency and responsiveness. (Yes Hungary its you we are trash talking).
A more federal EU would mean strengthening the role of EU institutions while reducing the capacity of individual states to block initiatives that serve the collective interest.
Key reforms could include shifting from unanimity to qualified majority voting in crucial areas, particularly foreign policy and security.
Additionally, a more integrated fiscal policy, potentially with direct EU-level taxation or shared debt issuance, would allow for better economic stability across the bloc.
Without such reforms, further enlargement—whether to the Western Balkans, Ukraine, or beyond—would only exacerbate the EU’s inefficiencies.
None. Why would we do that? Let’s focus on getting our shit together and lead by example. If others look up to our ideals it is within their choice to follow our path without us enforcing anything on anyone.
At at that point we can make deals and more importantly RESPECT them.
i would honestly want more to invest into becoming a real federation, instead of the current situation where always someone is opposing what what the other states want.
it’s more important to have a single direction than making sure that the decision is 100% fair to everyone. 80% is good enough (as long as the affected 20% are not always the same people).
we should fix this before expanding.
i’m not opposing the expansion, i’m just saying that this should be our main focus in the near future.
To be honest the idea of a single global government doesn’t sound like a dream to me. The EU was not created so it can expand, it was created to promote peace and collaboration among the European nations.
I think that the EU should focus on Europe itself. There are still a few european countries which want to join, especically in the Balkans and in Eastern Europe and should be prioritized, as they have similar values to the rest of the EU. Another issue is that most non-european countries, which have been mentioned here as potential candidates (especically the North American, Eastern Asian and Oceanian ones), are either too far away, have completely different values and structures and/or are located in geopolitically problematic locations and will probably cause more harm than benefit to Europe.
Might be an unpopular opinion and highly unlikely, but I think there is a possible future where Russia could be a part of EU. If they could swallow their ego and become a participant, not a “leader”. Their attempt at remaining a superpower is clearly not happening, so this could be a way to remain relevant.
Turkey, historically it is and it isn’t an European country. It’s not totally a European country but it’s not quite middle eastern either.
There are various problems with turkey right now. The current zeitgeist in Turkey is not too favourable and the Cyprus situation should be solved before even starting to talk about a Turkish entry.
But it’s the only country with a majority of the Population outside of europe that would make sense to add to the EU.
Certainly not now, but in 50 years maybe
I’m all for strengthening ties with nations outside Europe with likeminded countries like Canada and Australia, etc. but not in a union-kind of way. Too complicated and too many risks. We see what happens with the EU now that the US has gone rogue, first gaining an unholy amount of influence (both militairy as well as economic) on the EU and now that orange buffoon and his billionaire henchmen are backing us in a corner.
Let’s just get our own house in order without being to vulnerable in relying on other countries on different continents.
I think that if a large part of Europe becomes a federal state, we could potentially create a union similar to what the EU is but with countries beyond.
If they are too far away geographically, politically or in values, it might be a problem i.e. Australia is too far (for now, at least) dictatorships and breaking human rights should not be tolerated.
But, with the right incentives such as help crack down on crime and corruption, military aid to deal with armed groups and some access to the European market (not full until they become full members), pro-union sentiment would increase, and countries would have incentives to put in effort to meet the standards for entering the new union.
scotland and northern ireland they did not consent to brexit, maybe canada too some south american countries
Once we make it to federation and prove that we can actually fight – which right now seems sadly unlikely – we should reform first. The Euro was already a massive success, but the motion for a European constitution unfortunately failed.
As long as countries can’t be brought on board with these ideas – why expand? The goal should definitely be federation, otherwise we are just a pathwork rug of weak countries that can’t defend its expansions.
But IF we make it, then it can go far and wide and possibly include every country on earth that believes in the enlightenment, democracy and the rule of law that joins us voluntarily.
All nations north of Turkey and West of Russia.
Even Iceland and Canada could be candidates since we’re on the same plate and similar in culture.
Europe is not about expansionism. Same with Nato… A lot of foreign people don’t understand this. We don’t ask you to join, you ask us to join and then we vote on it and give you guidelines on how to join. Europe should NEVER just take something or let some nations join on a whim.
Honestly I’d rather we kicked Russian vassals and all the countries going full speed down the authoritarian road, or at least strongly suggest that they get their shit together, rather than expand the EU.
But to answer your question, Norway seems like the most natural candidate. Canada could be one too, provided that they don’t decide to go down the far right route on the next elections.
None. There’s enough corruption throughout the many EU institutions, often linked to previous events in each nation, that require a clean slate, remove some politicians from power and streamline the bureaucratic nightmare that is the EU currently. There’s both a gain and a loss at federalizing the union and the former could turn ugly.
I think the Anglosphere countries would rather go their own way (especially with the UK out of the EU), so a csde could be made for other American countries, provided that they make their systems equivalent to the EU. Countries like Uruguay, Chile or Argentina (with huge economic changes) would be candidates.
None, we should focus in our own countries and if we were to expand the EU, it should only accept truly European countries (not Russia or Turkey, they aren’t geographically nor culturally European enough).
As a Russian, I would be happy to see Georgian and Armenia being part of the EU. Would like to see them as prosperous democracies. But the reality is that they are very unlucky with their neighbors. They are also pretty much in Europe haha
But yeah, it also makes sense to concentrate on current issues instead.
Genuine question here: how do europeans feel about Canada as a candidate? This has been a topic of discussion given that, well, you know…
Australia. They are after all, in Eurovision song contest already, and we all know this is the first step towards EU membership.
Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and perhaps Kazakhstan
Whilst they are Asian countries they have close cultural ties to Europe
Morocco and Algeria need a lot more development in democracy and civil institutions as well as Morocco needs to end its occupation of Western Sahara first
Russia which will mean stupidity, corruption and hatred died there.
For real Australia and India would be cool
The EU isn’t about ‘planning to’, it’s about whether others want to join. It’s a coalition of the willing let’s say. But it should focus on a as contiguous territory as possible. Georgia would be an atypical member but they’d be welcomed.
There’s already a non European member country: Cyprus.
Other good candidates would be Cape Verde, Caribbean Island states and Greenland.
Ukraine, some Balkan countries, Georgia (if the government changes, Turkey can protect it). Canada? Maybe. At least some economic partnerships and military alliance. The same with South American countries.
There are a few former Soviet states that are looking toward membership of the EU. If/When Putin is defeated I think there will be accelerated applications to the EU, particularly with Armenia and Georgia.
Get UK back. Include Ukraine. Strongarm Norway into it so we can use their giant pile of money to buy guns.
The European Union has already expanded beyond Europe. The main examples are Cyprus and overseas territories, such as French Guyana in South America. If the EU were to expand further outside Europe, the most likely candidates are probably Turkey and Georgia, but I don’t see either of them joining any time soon.
The United Kingdom assuming they would take us back in after the nonsense of our last few successive governments. Because I believe Brexit is by far the most damaging thing to our nation and how we are perceived around the world. The only small mercy is we did not vote to keep mini Trump and his cronies.
None but if we had to, I’d say Canada, Australia and New Zealand. They’re similar in values and it’d be funny to see Brexiteers realise they left the EU to reconnect with the commonwealth only for them to join the EU. Mwuhahaha
37 comments
Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, South Korea.
It would be amazing to make it a coalition of “smaller” advanced and developed economies that are not on a path to a dictatorship. As there are (or will be) two other big blocks in the world that are dictatorships.
None.
Please, stop making the EU too stupidly big and unstable. Let’s solve the problems we have right now with the current setup with, for example, federation, without the nonsense of including incompatible countries like Canada, Georgia or even Ukraine.
None, I think the EU should focus on cooperation within Europe. We should try to maintain good relations with friendly countries who share our values. But I dont think expantion beyond Europe is a smart move.
None. For the moment, we have enough problems as it is and I don’t think the EU can afford other members right now.
> why not dream
Because the last generation that dreamt up expansion, gave us a little nation which uses it’s veto to the point where the union’s decision making process mirrors that of the UN security council.
I think there should be a new alliance at least, with all Democratic European countries, Canada, Australia and Japan. Maybe more too.
None, absolutely none. If the EU was to focus on anything it should be to get the rest of Europe into EU, excluding Switzerland (cant be done), Turkey, Belarus and Russia of course.
EU should prioritize internal consolidation, ensuring that its institutions are capable of managing the curent before a larger and more diverse membership effectively.
For the European Union to function effectively as it potentially expands, it must evolve into a more federal-like structure with streamlined decision-making processes.
The current system, where individual member states—can wield veto power over critical policies, significantly hampers efficiency and responsiveness. (Yes Hungary its you we are trash talking).
A more federal EU would mean strengthening the role of EU institutions while reducing the capacity of individual states to block initiatives that serve the collective interest.
Key reforms could include shifting from unanimity to qualified majority voting in crucial areas, particularly foreign policy and security.
Additionally, a more integrated fiscal policy, potentially with direct EU-level taxation or shared debt issuance, would allow for better economic stability across the bloc.
Without such reforms, further enlargement—whether to the Western Balkans, Ukraine, or beyond—would only exacerbate the EU’s inefficiencies.
None. Why would we do that? Let’s focus on getting our shit together and lead by example. If others look up to our ideals it is within their choice to follow our path without us enforcing anything on anyone.
At at that point we can make deals and more importantly RESPECT them.
i would honestly want more to invest into becoming a real federation, instead of the current situation where always someone is opposing what what the other states want.
it’s more important to have a single direction than making sure that the decision is 100% fair to everyone. 80% is good enough (as long as the affected 20% are not always the same people).
we should fix this before expanding.
i’m not opposing the expansion, i’m just saying that this should be our main focus in the near future.
To be honest the idea of a single global government doesn’t sound like a dream to me. The EU was not created so it can expand, it was created to promote peace and collaboration among the European nations.
I think that the EU should focus on Europe itself. There are still a few european countries which want to join, especically in the Balkans and in Eastern Europe and should be prioritized, as they have similar values to the rest of the EU. Another issue is that most non-european countries, which have been mentioned here as potential candidates (especically the North American, Eastern Asian and Oceanian ones), are either too far away, have completely different values and structures and/or are located in geopolitically problematic locations and will probably cause more harm than benefit to Europe.
Might be an unpopular opinion and highly unlikely, but I think there is a possible future where Russia could be a part of EU. If they could swallow their ego and become a participant, not a “leader”. Their attempt at remaining a superpower is clearly not happening, so this could be a way to remain relevant.
Turkey, historically it is and it isn’t an European country. It’s not totally a European country but it’s not quite middle eastern either.
There are various problems with turkey right now. The current zeitgeist in Turkey is not too favourable and the Cyprus situation should be solved before even starting to talk about a Turkish entry.
But it’s the only country with a majority of the Population outside of europe that would make sense to add to the EU.
Certainly not now, but in 50 years maybe
I’m all for strengthening ties with nations outside Europe with likeminded countries like Canada and Australia, etc. but not in a union-kind of way. Too complicated and too many risks. We see what happens with the EU now that the US has gone rogue, first gaining an unholy amount of influence (both militairy as well as economic) on the EU and now that orange buffoon and his billionaire henchmen are backing us in a corner.
Let’s just get our own house in order without being to vulnerable in relying on other countries on different continents.
I think that if a large part of Europe becomes a federal state, we could potentially create a union similar to what the EU is but with countries beyond.
If they are too far away geographically, politically or in values, it might be a problem i.e. Australia is too far (for now, at least) dictatorships and breaking human rights should not be tolerated.
But, with the right incentives such as help crack down on crime and corruption, military aid to deal with armed groups and some access to the European market (not full until they become full members), pro-union sentiment would increase, and countries would have incentives to put in effort to meet the standards for entering the new union.
scotland and northern ireland they did not consent to brexit, maybe canada too some south american countries
Once we make it to federation and prove that we can actually fight – which right now seems sadly unlikely – we should reform first. The Euro was already a massive success, but the motion for a European constitution unfortunately failed.
As long as countries can’t be brought on board with these ideas – why expand? The goal should definitely be federation, otherwise we are just a pathwork rug of weak countries that can’t defend its expansions.
But IF we make it, then it can go far and wide and possibly include every country on earth that believes in the enlightenment, democracy and the rule of law that joins us voluntarily.
All nations north of Turkey and West of Russia.
Even Iceland and Canada could be candidates since we’re on the same plate and similar in culture.
Europe is not about expansionism. Same with Nato… A lot of foreign people don’t understand this. We don’t ask you to join, you ask us to join and then we vote on it and give you guidelines on how to join. Europe should NEVER just take something or let some nations join on a whim.
Honestly I’d rather we kicked Russian vassals and all the countries going full speed down the authoritarian road, or at least strongly suggest that they get their shit together, rather than expand the EU.
But to answer your question, Norway seems like the most natural candidate. Canada could be one too, provided that they don’t decide to go down the far right route on the next elections.
None. There’s enough corruption throughout the many EU institutions, often linked to previous events in each nation, that require a clean slate, remove some politicians from power and streamline the bureaucratic nightmare that is the EU currently. There’s both a gain and a loss at federalizing the union and the former could turn ugly.
I think the Anglosphere countries would rather go their own way (especially with the UK out of the EU), so a csde could be made for other American countries, provided that they make their systems equivalent to the EU. Countries like Uruguay, Chile or Argentina (with huge economic changes) would be candidates.
None, we should focus in our own countries and if we were to expand the EU, it should only accept truly European countries (not Russia or Turkey, they aren’t geographically nor culturally European enough).
As a Russian, I would be happy to see Georgian and Armenia being part of the EU. Would like to see them as prosperous democracies. But the reality is that they are very unlucky with their neighbors. They are also pretty much in Europe haha
But yeah, it also makes sense to concentrate on current issues instead.
Genuine question here: how do europeans feel about Canada as a candidate? This has been a topic of discussion given that, well, you know…
Australia. They are after all, in Eurovision song contest already, and we all know this is the first step towards EU membership.
Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and perhaps Kazakhstan
Whilst they are Asian countries they have close cultural ties to Europe
Morocco and Algeria need a lot more development in democracy and civil institutions as well as Morocco needs to end its occupation of Western Sahara first
Russia which will mean stupidity, corruption and hatred died there.
For real Australia and India would be cool
The EU isn’t about ‘planning to’, it’s about whether others want to join. It’s a coalition of the willing let’s say. But it should focus on a as contiguous territory as possible. Georgia would be an atypical member but they’d be welcomed.
There’s already a non European member country: Cyprus.
Other good candidates would be Cape Verde, Caribbean Island states and Greenland.
Ukraine, some Balkan countries, Georgia (if the government changes, Turkey can protect it). Canada? Maybe. At least some economic partnerships and military alliance. The same with South American countries.
There are a few former Soviet states that are looking toward membership of the EU. If/When Putin is defeated I think there will be accelerated applications to the EU, particularly with Armenia and Georgia.
Get UK back. Include Ukraine. Strongarm Norway into it so we can use their giant pile of money to buy guns.
The European Union has already expanded beyond Europe. The main examples are Cyprus and overseas territories, such as French Guyana in South America. If the EU were to expand further outside Europe, the most likely candidates are probably Turkey and Georgia, but I don’t see either of them joining any time soon.
The United Kingdom assuming they would take us back in after the nonsense of our last few successive governments. Because I believe Brexit is by far the most damaging thing to our nation and how we are perceived around the world. The only small mercy is we did not vote to keep mini Trump and his cronies.
None but if we had to, I’d say Canada, Australia and New Zealand. They’re similar in values and it’d be funny to see Brexiteers realise they left the EU to reconnect with the commonwealth only for them to join the EU. Mwuhahaha