I guess that one can find a political definition of Europe that is lax enough to justify inclusion of these countries if so motivated. Turkey is formally in (suspended) membership negotiations and a major discussion point was that most of its land area is not on the European continent.

Redefining Europe to include Canada would be outright ridiculous. The Union would have to redefine its own identity if it wanted to admit Canada.

> Turkey is formally in (suspended) membership negotiations and a major discussion point was that most of its land area is not on the European continent.

Would the that be a discussion point if Turkey had a well functioning democracy? Solid economics? Didn't have the death penalty? Found some sort of resolution to conflicts on its borders?

I don't have answers for your questions. My wording is also imprecise. I only meant to say that I remember that the location of Turkey was used as an argument against starting membership negotiations when that was deliberated within the EU.

High population with low GDP per capita.

Turkey certainly has some economic issues with inflation, etc.

Yes, Turkey has democracy, but what was the coup thing going on a few years back?

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But yes, high population == more votes, could also be a concern.

But maybe in a few decades the EU will have labour shortages and willing to take on a new challenge, who knows? :)

> The conflict in Syria is resolved in Turkey's favor.

Is it? The SDF is still there, and was always one of the biggest reasons why Turkey got involved.

Now, that one, Turkey might still resolve yet... but if it does, that will likely come in form of another genocide. Which would hardly improve its chances of getting acceptance.

Re: Cyprus, the rule may be being on the same tectonic plate, which AFAICT, Cyprus is (the Eurasian plate).

Canada directly borders France (St. Pierre et Miquelon) so if we ignore dragging in the geologists, that's as good an argument as any.

Canada also directly borders Denmark via Greenland on Hans Island.

Neither Greenland nor St. Pierre et Miquelon are part of the EU (they are “Overseas Countries and Territories”).

So that would also include Dominica, which is also directly bordering France (Martinique).

The French and their globally disconnected departments ...

Martinique is an “Outermost Region” (and so, part of the EU) unlike St. Pierre et Miquelon which is one of the “Overseas Countries and Territories” (not part of the EU).

Are we also considering Brazil for EU membership, then, as the country with the longest land border with France?

(French Guiana is governed by EU regulations, after all...)

There aren't any rules.

Or to be a bit more precise, the rule says any "European state" can join, but there are no set-in-stone definitions of what that actually means.

People here are mentioning Morocco as the example of a country rejected for not being European, but that's not quite accurate: Morocco got rejected from the European Communities in 1987, six years the Maastricht Treaty officially established the EU. Maastricht Treaty specifically put the European Commission in charge of figuring out which countries are considered to be "European", but as far as I know, they never said no to anyone. They did say yes to Cyprus, Georgia and Armenia.