https://www.economist.com/europe/2025/01/02/why-canada-should-join-the-eu

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[                    ]
Europe | Charlemagne

Why Canada should join the EU

Europe needs space and resources, Canada needs people. Let's deal

The European flag with one of the stars as the red maple leaf
representing Canada. Illustration: Andrea Ucini
Jan 2nd 2025
Share

As international conflicts go, none did so little to disrupt the
global order as the "whisky wars" that pitted Canada against Denmark
for four decades. Flaring up in 1984, the unlikely spat involved a
one-square-kilometre island in the middle of an icy Arctic channel
marking the border between Greenland (now a self-ruling part of
Denmark) and the Canadian territory of Nunavut. Both sides assumed
the rock was theirs. What might have been considered a casus belli by
lesser countries became, for the northern duo, an exercise in
diplomatic civility. Canadian officials visiting the island marked
their territory by leaving whisky and flags; Danes asserted
sovereignty by snaffling the booze and leaving their own schnapps for
Canadians to enjoy. In lieu of shots fired, polite letters were
occasionally exchanged. When the quarrel grew tiresome a working
group spent years agreeing to split the island down the middle,
ending all hostilities in 2022.

Explore more

CanadaCharlemagne

This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition
under the headline "The EU's newest member, eh?"

Europe January 4th 2025

  * Finland seizes a tanker, getting tough on hybrid warfare
  * A Prague-Berlin train loses its old-world dining cars
  * Elon Musk's praise for the far right infuriates most of Germany
  * Serbia and its neighbours are still far from joining the EU
  * Why Canada should join the EU

[20250104_DE_US]

From the January 4th 2025 edition

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

Explore the edition
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More from Europe

Elon Musk speaks at a campaign rally in New York

Elon Musk's praise for the far right infuriates most of Germany

A badly written op-ed may have set the terms of the election campaign

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic news conference in Belgrade

Serbia and its neighbours are still far from joining the EU

Donald Trump could bring the region yet more upheaval

---------------------------------------------------------------------
oil tanker Eagle S (L), next to tugboat Ukko, off Porkkalanniemi,
Kirkkonummi, in the Gulf of Finland,

Finland seizes a tanker, getting tough on hybrid warfare

Russian-linked attacks on undersea infrastructure are rising

---------------------------------------------------------------------

A Prague-Berlin train loses its old-world dining cars

The looming end of the Knodelexpress

Inside Ukraine's secret missile programme

With foreign aid uncertain, Ukraine revives its rocket industry

A horrific Christmas attack in Germany is weirder than first thought

The far right tries to exploit a Saudi anti-Islamist's murder spree

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