EU Considering Canada as First 'Associate Member'
REPORTER:
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is floating making Canada the EU’s first “associate member”.
EU lawmakers gave the proposal a standing ovation. It comes as both the EU and Canada find their relationships with the US increasingly fraught. US President Trump has already threatened the EU with more trade barriers if the proposal moves forward. EU member states will now have to decide whether to greenlight the proposal.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday she wanted to open the door to Canada becoming the EU's first "associate member" in a push to forge new links among allies in an openly hostile world.
European Union lawmakers gave a standing ovation after she made the proposal and then walked over to embrace Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney, who was in the European Parliament to hear her annual State of the Union address.
New partnerships were needed "in the cold fragility of today’s world," von der Leyen told the assembly in Strasbourg, without detailing what associate membership would mean.
The 27-nation bloc faces war at its borders, with Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Both the EU and Canada have also been facing stiff rivalry on trade and other issues from the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump and from an increasingly assertive China.
"I said we must urgently reimagine our partnerships. So, I would like to work with you on opening the door for Canada to be the first associate member of the EU," von der Leyen said.
The EU and Canada "see the world with the same eyes: from AI to climate change, from the Arctic to geopolitics. And we have stood together: on Ukraine, on defence, on raw materials and on supply chains. But above all ... Europe and Canada believe in democracy," von der Leyen told the assembly.
Mark Carney (PRIME MINISTER):
Canada and Europe should secure our strategic autonomy through deep cooperation in the full range of strategic capabilities.
He did not mention associate membership.
Donald Trump (US PRESIDENT):
If they do that, if I think it's at all a hostile act, I will put very serious tariffs or stop trading with Europe on many things.
It will be up to EU member states, and not von der Leyen alone, whether her proposal, which left some EU watchers befuddled, goes ahead.
The EU has historically resisted flexible alliances that have no legal status. EU members were lukewarm in reacting to Germany's proposal in May of associate membership for Ukraine as a stepping stone to full accession.
One EU diplomat expressed surprise at von der Leyen's proposal, saying "nobody really knows what it means." The diplomat added there were concerns that the European Commission chief "is overpromising and won't be able to deliver."
Fabian Zuleeg (CHIEF EXECUTIVE, EUROPEAN POLICY CENTRE):
There is potential in standing up together against Trump’s economic coercion and in working together on economic security. One risk was that words were not followed by substance, which would end up making us weaker rather than stronger.
Carney's European trip follows the collapse of Canada-U.S. trade talks last month, which sparked a series of back-and-forth tariff measures.
He has pledged to double Canada’s non-U.S. trade in the next decade as the country pivots away from its southern neighbour amid an increasingly acrimonious trade war.
In her speech, von der Leyen said the EU and Canada will work together across sectors.
Ursula von der Leyen (EUROPEAN COMMISSION PRESIDENT):
We will work on intelligent manufacturing. We will create a tech alliance. We will integrate defence industrial bases. We will make the Arctic a flagship joint project. Partnerships are a strategic choice for Europe. But they also respond to the fracture in the international rules-based system. This is a partnership not against anyone else.
Heorhii Tykhyi (UKRAINE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESPERSON):
We are also interested and are examining what it will specifically entail and how close the integration will be.
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REPORTER:
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has proposed making Canada the EU’s first “associate member”.
What that relationship will mean in practice is unclear, and it will be up to EU member states, not von der Leyen, to approve. But the offer comes as both the EU and Canada find themselves at odds with the Trump administration in the US on trade and other issues and face China’s growing assertiveness. US President Trump has already threatened the EU with additional tariffs or a halt to some trade if it goes ahead with making Canada an associate member.
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