EU wants Canada as its first ‘associate member.’ What does that mean?

The European Union wants Canada as its first “associate member” and to “urgently reimagine” their relationship, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said during her annual State of the Union address in France on Wednesday.

“Dear Mark, 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 told Prime Minister Mark Carney, who was attending the speech.

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‘An alliance for the future’: Von der Leyen invites Canada to become 1st-ever ‘associate Member’ of the EU

“We share one ocean, one set of values, one way of seeing the world. And we will now build our shared future as well – thank you for being here,” she said.

“In short, we want to bring the relationship with Canada to the highest level possible,” she added.

Carney and von der Leyen met on Wednesday, after which Carney said in a statement he “welcomed” her proposal to move towards a “a far stronger, more ambitious alliance in the future.”

Von der Leyen said Canada and the EU have already increased their volume of trade by 75 per cent in less than a decade since the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) was signed.

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What Carney’s push to strengthen Canada-EU ties could look like

While the trade deal has been provisionally implemented, it isn’t yet fully ratified as some European Union member states still need to ratify the agreement in their individual legislatures.

Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Poland and Slovenia are the states that haven’t yet ratified CETA.

The European Union and Canada would move from CETA to an Alliance for the Future, von der Leyen said.

“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. We will work on energy, critical minerals and batteries. On AI, quantum, cyber and economic security,” von der Leyen said.

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Carney heads to Europe aiming to build ‘unique alliance’ with EU

The talk of Canadian membership comes as the U.S. escalates its trade war against Canada and the U.S. escalates and as U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly asserted the NATO military alliance, of which Canada is a member, is not pulling its weight.

“This is a partnership not against anyone else, but for our common strength,” von der Leyen said.

However, it is unclear whether the proposal for including Canada as an “associate member,” a category that does not exist so far and would have to be specifically created for Canada, has wide support from EU member states.

A German government spokesperson told Reuters that while they support deeper integration with Canada, the term “associate member” should be “reconsidered.”

“Canada is a particularly close partner for Europe. That is why we are open to discussing new models of partnership,” the spokesperson said.

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‘Unique alliance’ to be discussed with EU, Carney says

“But as for the terminology — the label attached to it — we ought to reconsider that,” they added.

Carney has previously said that Canada was “not looking” to gain EU membership but was working to develop a “unique alliance” with Brussels.

–With files from Reuters