Visiting the kibbutz: Roberta Metsola, the President of the European Parliament, the Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Ursula von der Leyen, the head of the EU Commission, in Israel in October
Image: Picture Alliance
The cultural connections to Europe are close, and Israel would also fulfill the requirements as a candidate for membership in the EU economically and politically. About high-tech wealth, bitter poverty and a spark of utopia.
DThe state of Israel should be offered membership in the EU. Micha Brumlik, a German-Jewish intellectual, suggested this a few years ago. Germany could play a leading role in this. Brumlik argues that the state of Israel is culturally influenced by Europe even more than Turkey with its Ottoman roots.
At first glance the idea sounds absurd. Especially in these times. But only at first glance.
Now we don’t know whether Israel would even be interested in EU membership. Or perhaps the 51st state of the United States of America would prefer, should there be a corresponding offer from Washington. In addition, I don’t know whether the requirements for EU membership include that the country geographically belongs to Europe. It is by no means objectively necessary: you could become a member of the Hanseatic League, a free trade alliance in the early modern period, even though the cities were far apart between Western Europe and Russia and had no common border. One could also belong to the “Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation”, although neither Roman nor German. Instead, concurrent political and economic interests were a prerequisite for admission.
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