Title assumes the current reality changes to one where stupid shit still happens but it’s not always “And then it got worse” (lmao)
Title assumes the current reality changes to one where stupid shit still happens but it’s not always “And then it got worse” (lmao)
The EU already has a land border in the Americas. French Guiana is part of the union and it touches Brazil and Suriname. So the gate is already open to work it from the south up instead of the north down.
I read somewhere – great source, I know – that the existing rule is that the country has to be in Europe, though, not that it has a border. Otherwise Malta, Ireland, and Cyprus would not qualify, and the UK too back when they were in.
Oddly enough, the Canadian/Danish border is a questionable one for this purpose anyway – Hans Island (where the border is) is part of Greenland and Greenland is not in the EU. It left in 1985 and is now one of the “Overseas countries and territories” that have special rights in relation to the EU but are not actually in it.
Technically, the UK has 2 train tunnel size boarders with France. (And a service tunnel?)
Cyprus is technically in Asia, not in Europe, and as such it shouldn’t qualify. But they make the rules and choose how to apply them, so they can allow for deviations if they want.
Technically Asia and Europe are part of the same continent, Eurasia, as unlike all the other continents they are not fully separated by water. Even more technically, ‘continents’ are a linguistic phenomenon and have arbitrary boundaries and definitions.
Let’s be honest, there’s no “technically” about it either way. There is no real definition of what a continent is beyond “we call it a continent”
That is what the second part of my comment was saying.
…not sure how I managed to miss that
Especially Europe. Turn the world map upside down and see if Europe looks like a “continent”.
I went and looked it up, and it does say any “European” country, but it does not define what a European country is anywhere that I’ve found so far.
So now that I’ve said something that could be wrong, hopefully someone with more EU legal knowledge can come um actually us since I can’t find that legal definition as it pertains to the EU anywhere.
No no no. That’s not how being corrected on the internet works! You have to be wrong, AND be certain that you’re right! THEN someone can come along and say “Actually…”
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/enlargement/briefings/23a2_en.htm
Besides Denmark there is also France - and incidentally this border is also the closest sea border the French have to any other country: Saint Pierre et Miquelon. But the collectivité d’outre-mer that they are formally not part of the EU but only EU associated. But France could easily change a single law to make them part of the EU. So if that is a criteria that is nothing that can’t be overcome.
Beside that we would fucking love to have Canada in the EU. I have yet to find a single EU citizen who has a problem with that idea.
I’ll take some of that special rights and privileges without being part of EU as well.
Basically Northern Irish people