European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has laid out her vision for what an “associate membership” status for Canada to the EU would look like as officials gather in Montreal to discuss closer ties.
It is “a partnership that comes close to membership than anything we have done before,” she said on Thursday’s remarks at the two-day Canada-EU summit.
She added it is a type of relationship that would be open “only to our closest partners outside of Europe who are ready to open a new frontier together.”
It includes close alignment on governance and policies, and partnering in research and innovation.
For decades, Canada-EU summits took place without much fanfare – but that’s not the case for this year’s meeting in the Canadian city.
Thursday and Friday’s summit is being closely watched for details on how Canada and the European bloc deepen their ties.
Von der Leyen first proposed “opening the door” to Canada last month for what she called an “associate membership” – a status that does not currently exist.
The overture came after Prime Minister Carney addressed the European Parliament in Strasbourg, telling EU lawmakers that Canada and Europe were “stronger together” in the face of “geopolitical rupture”.
Carney and many EU member states welcome closer ties, but not all are on board with what to call this new relationship.
Some, like Germany, are questioning the “associate member” term, fearing that Canada is getting preferential treatment ahead of other nations who also want in.
According to reports by multiple news outlets, Germany and other nations successfully lobbied to remove mention of the title in a draft statement ahead of the summit, opting instead for softer language that references an “ever closer association”.
Germany’s ambassador to Canada, Matthias Lüttenberg, told CTV News on Tuesday that some member states were “a little surprised” by von der Leyen’s announcement last month.
While there is broad support for closer ties, the concept of “associate membership” is something that is not clearly understood as it pertains to Canada, he said.
“Germany has been using the term of associate membership for something completely different, which is the relationship of the EU to Ukraine and potentially Moldova”, he said, both of which have been trying to join the bloc for many years.
Despite some opposition, von der Leyen has continued to use the term has not addressed the disagreement over the term.
