Make Europe a superpower by integrating Russia into the EU

0. The end of war and Putin is an obvious prerequisite. But as soon as Russia is somewhat normal, it should be invited into the EU immediately. Don’t wait for a mature democracy.

1. Adding Russia would increase EU’s population by over 30%, pushing it to 600 million people, all of whom would be culturally and ethnically European. That would make the Union far stronger globally and its internal market way larger. EU would be much more competitive against the US and China.

2. Europe would get easy access to Russia’s enormous natural resources. That would decrease energy prices for European consumers and industries.

3. Russian labor force is relatively skilled and educated but very cheap. Russians could replace non-European migrants for many major European employers.

4. Russian labor laws are very lax and most Russians are used to working long hours for modest pay. European investors and founders might find building a business in Russia much easier than in more regulated Western European countries.

5. Russian tech sector is developed, and Russian programmers are very high-quality. A disproportiomate number of major tech founders are Russian or Russia-born (Sergey Brin, Vitalik Buterin, Pavel Durov etc.) Russian integration would revitalize European tech sector.

6. Integrating Russian army into EU’s defence system would make Europe a military powerhouse on par with China and the US, making Europeans less dependent on US/NATO for their defence. Europe would also have the largest nuclear arsenal in the world.

7. Europe would inherit Soviet and Russian space industry and obtain its first ever spaceport that is not in South America.

8. Even if Putin will be somehow gone and Russia would switch back to a somewhat democratic system, democratic backsliding remains a major risk. It already happened with Russia once, and it resulted in a catastrophic war. EU oversight would prevent Russia from ever becoming a dictatorship again. That would make Russia a better place, but it would also make Europe significantly safer.

Integrating Russia into the EU would result in a freer and richer Russia, a stronger and more prosperous Europe, and a safer and better world. A win-win for all.