cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/39362667
There is no uniform voting system for the election of [Members of the European Parliament]; rather, each member state is free to choose its own system, subject to certain restrictions:
- The system must be a form of proportional representation, under either the party list or the single transferable vote system.
Just sounds like more pros to me✨
That was my immediate thought.
I’m sold, Sign me up.
You had me at proportional representation, however I fear we are more likely to form the CANZUK. I doubt it would have proportional representation and we would probably still be stuck with the crown on our money. I was a fan of joining the EU just to get people off of our money but not their colouring scheme, proportional representation would be great.
I am most definitely not a fan of adopting the US money as some have suggested before because it all has dead white guys on their money.
I think CANZUK can be faster. Still, even while pursuing CANZUK, we can also pursue closer EU integration. We’re going to need to do more business with the EU, and the UK is already in a position where despite Brexit, they need to maintain business with the EU.
Even if Canada was to formally join the EU, I think it would take quite a while. EU member nations haven’t even finished ratifying CETA. CANZUK can move faster for sure. Unfortunately for CANZUK, what Canada’s biggest contribution would have been is what is being undermined, integration with the North American market.
New Zealand has proportional representation.
Awsome
Joining the European Union does not require joining the Eurozone (i.e., adopting the Euro Currency). For example, when the UK joined the EU, they maintained the British Sterling Pound as their own currency.
Hell yeah. Another good reason!
Absolutely! Proportional representation is what has served Switzerland, Norway, Denmark and Ireland so well!
It improves the performance of the government on various issues such as climate change, inequality, political polarization and minority under-representation.
We need much more collaboration in our country to tackle the challenges of the future.
Lest legislative lurch. We’re seeing an extreme version of that with the US. Tough to deal with a country long term when everything can change every four years.
Unless there is another factor such as weak laws against bribery/corruption, how can legislative lurch happen with proportional representation?
The US is both corrupt and not proportional representation.
That’s mostly what I said. In the US, a few swing voters in a few swing states decide the President. The President has outsized power within the US. This is even more pronounced now that Trump seems to be pushing a veritable Presidential monarchy.
Aside from the Presidency though, with FPTP you tend towards two parties, with power flipping between them. Consider Canada with the Conservatives and the Liberals. Gun registry, no gun registry as an example.
In PR systems, there can’t be the same amount of legislative lurch unless the population at large changes their voting. Even if a less mainstream party is the largest in the parliament/legislature/whatever, unless more than 50% of the population voted for them, there will have to be a coalition government. Even in the “big upset” of the 2023 Netherlands elections, Geert Wilders’ Freedom Party only got 37 seats, less than half of what was needed for a majority government. So a coalition was formed and compromises were made. Yes, Netherlands changed tack, but it wasn’t as drastic as in a non-PR election, and arguably more accurately reflects the concerns of Dutch citizens overall.
If Canada can join, then Australia should be next. Between them and French Polynesia it would create an empire that always faces the Sun.
Britainnia 2, this time without Britain
Don’t you need to be a European country to join the EU?
Technically, Canada shares a border with Denmark, a European country, via Hans Island.
Also St Pierre and Miquelon are less than 20 km off the coast of Newfoundland
hans island is uninhabited, and the border is technically shared with greenland. its people are eu citizens, but greenland is not in the european union. they exited the eu’s predecessor organization before the eu was formed from it.
Saint-Pierre and Miquelon is a way better example. Only 19km away from Point May in Newfoundland.
French Island with ~6000 residents. Full EU member. {Edit: I might have been wrong on full EU member, seems to be kind of a member but kind of not} You can take a ferry there from Canada.
The definition of what’s European is squishy and doesn’t necessarily conform to geography. It could be qualified by shard values or borders if EU members agree.
That’s been the case so far, but I don’t think there’s anything specifically prohibiting a non-European country from joining.
