• Elrecoal19@lemmy.worldOP
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    1 day ago

    If I’m not mistaken, per article 49 of the Treaty on European Union, it can’t.

    Any European State which respects the values referred to in Article 2 and is committed to promoting them may apply to become a member of the Union. The European Parliament and national Parliaments shall be notified of this application. The applicant State shall address its application to the Council, which shall act unanimously after consulting the Commission and after receiving the consent of the European Parliament, which shall act by a majority of its component members. The conditions of eligibility agreed upon by the European Council shall be taken into account.

    The conditions of admission and the adjustments to the Treaties on which the Union is founded, which such admission entails, shall be the subject of an agreement between the Member States and the applicant State. This agreement shall be submitted for ratification by all the contracting States in accordance with their respective constitutional requirements.

    For example, Morocco tried applying, but was rejected because it wasn’t considered an “European State”. So, from my point of view, either EU amends the article to allow non-European countries to join (maybe on the basis of cultural similarities? anyways, I don’t think it’s even feasible), or an special agreement/set of agreements to integrate it in the EU without actually making it part of the EU.

    • Hubi@feddit.org
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      8 hours ago

      Georgia is a EU candidate and it’s neither in Europe nor bordering a EU state. It should definitely be possible.

      • philpo@feddit.org
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        56 minutes ago

        Georgia is absolutely within Europa by geographical, historically and politically. The eastern and southern reaches of the Caucasus mountains define the border towards Asia in that region.

      • optional@feddit.org
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        8 hours ago

        Europe is not well defined, there are different opinions where Europe ends and Asia begins. Depending on the definition you choose, Georgia can be seen as partially or even completely in Europe.

        On the other hand, there is not much discussion that the Atlantic is the western border of Europe, so Canada is definitely not in Europe.

      • trollercoaster@sh.itjust.works
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        13 hours ago

        I’m pretty sure that the exact meaning of “European” is very precisely defined somewhere in the fine print. It’s an EU treaty after all.

        • Elrecoal19@lemmy.worldOP
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          12 hours ago

          I think originally it was meant to be focused on geographical Europe, they could use the "culturally European " reasoning as a loophole (or as the new meaning), though, but I don’t really know.

        • Kidplayer_666@lemm.ee
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          13 hours ago

          If Australia in in the Eurovision (European song contest), it may as well be in the Union too