EU chief wants Canada as first associate member

STRASBOURG (AP):

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen yesterday proposed making Canada the European Union’s first associate member, a striking overture as US President Donald Trump’s threats drive Ottawa closer to Europe.

Trump’s tariffs and repeated talk of making Canada the 51st state have soured the relationship between the North American neighbours. Canada is seeking to reduce its dependence on the United States, the destination for roughly 70 per cent of its exports, and Prime Minister Mark Carney has called for a “unique alliance” with the EU.

In her annual State of the European Union address, von der Leyen said Canada and the EU would build on their existing free trade agreement, known as CETA, with a broader “Alliance for the Future” aimed at creating “a common prosperity and economic security space”.

She cast that closer relationship as rooted not just in trade but in shared democratic values.

In a speech, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen tells Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney she wants to open the door for Canada to become the EUs first associate member, a potential deepening of ties as both confront growing tensions with President Donald Trump.

“Above all, dear Mark, Europe and Canada believe in democracy,” von der Leyen said to Carney, who received a standing ovation at the European Parliament in Strasbourg. He is due to address the Parliament today.

Jonathan Wilkinson, Canada’s ambassador-designate to the EU, said that Ottawa had discussed associate membership with European officials before von der Leyen’s speech and “knew that that was something that was on the table”. He said Canada had talked to the EU about an “Alliance for the Future”, while European officials had raised associate membership.

Wilkinson said Canada is not seeking full EU membership because it would require surrendering some sovereignty. Instead, Ottawa wants “to get as close as we possibly can” to the bloc in a way that strengthens Canadian sovereignty rather than diminishes it, he said.

Carney’s office welcomed von der Leyen’s proposal, saying Canada was deepening ties with the EU “to strengthen our sovereignty” and supported a move beyond CETA.

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Von der Leyen said the expanded partnership would cover advanced manufacturing, technology, defence production, the Arctic, energy, critical minerals, batteries, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, cybersecurity and economic security.

“This is a partnership not against anyone else, but for our common strength,” she said. “In short, we want to bring the relationship with Canada to the highest level possible.”

Because Canada joining the EU as an associate member would be a first, there is no rulebook on how that would work or what it would mean in practice. It is unclear who would need to approve membership, and how long that could take.

Wilkinson said Ottawa and Brussels are deliberately focusing first on the substance of the relationship rather than what to call it. “Before you actually get to the point where you decide what you’re going to call something, you should actually know the shape,” he said.

He said the shape is likely to become clearer at the Canada-EU summit in October, when the two sides expect to make an announcement and may settle on how to describe it.

Currently, all steps toward EU membership must be approved unanimously by the 27 member countries.

The idea of associate membership has been floated in the past for Ukraine, or for post-Brexit Britain, but no concrete steps have been taken.

Canada has retaliated against US tariffs and rejected trade terms Carney says would weaken its sovereignty.

The EU has taken a different course with Washington, reaching a trade agreement that set a 15 per cent US tariff ceiling on the vast majority of EU exports while Europe eliminated tariffs on US industrial goods.

That contrast has loomed over Carney’s push for closer European ties. In a closely watched speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January, he urged middle powers to work together to increase their leverage in an era of great-power rivalry.

“When we only negotiate bilaterally with a hegemon, we negotiate from weakness. We accept what is offered,” Carney said.

“This is not sovereignty,” he said. “It is the performance of sovereignty while accepting subordination.”

Carney’s Davos speech drew a personal rebuke from Trump, and von der Leyen’s overture to America’s neighbour could raise the temperature again.