EU backs away from offer to Canada to start ‘associate member’ talks

Mark Carney and the European Parliament president, Roberta Metsola, in Strasbourg last month. Photograph: Ahmet Sel/Anadolu/ View image in fullscreen Mark Carney and the European Parliament president, Roberta Metsola, in Strasbourg last month. Photograph: Ahmet Sel/Anadolu/ EU backs away from offer to Canada to start ‘associate member’ talks Watered-down version of statement to be issued at end of Montreal summit instead offers ‘ever closer association’ The EU has backed away from its offer to Canada to start talks on becoming an “associate member” after disagreements between members states just as an EU-Canada summit was set to begin in Montreal. A draft of a joint statement to be issued after the end of the summit, which runs Thursday and Friday, showed a watered-down version offering “an ever closer association of Canada to the EU, short of full membership itself”. The issue was triggered after the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, surprised nearly everyone ’s state of the union address that the EU would consider “associate membership” for Canada. The declaration had been hailed as a landmark in EU history, offering a non-EU country such close ties to the bloc, which has not allowed any state membership since Croatia joined in 2013. It was also seen as a sign that the call by Canada’s prime minister, Mark Carney, at the Davos summit in January for “middle powers” to work together was paying off. But instead of announcing a work programme on developing “associate membership”, the draft communique, seen , states the two sides would “work to define by the 2027 EU-Canada summit the concept of an ever closer association of Canada to the EU, short of full membership itself, to reflect, through this even closer association, our common endeavour and cooperation towards our shared goals of prosperity, economic security and strategic autonomy”. Associate membership had been mooted, and rejected, previously for countries such as Ukraine. Von der Leyen’s declaration caught EU capitals . Given “associate status” has no definition, diplomats wondered about such issues as whether Canada could join the European Council, legislative bodies or decision-making processes without a vote. At a meeting on Monday, ambassadors in the EU raised concerns about the dramatic offer, but vowed to make efforts to seek a diplomatic path to rescinding the offer of “associate” membership without embarrassing Von der Leyen. It is understood that Italy suggested “associate membership as proposed ”, with the definition to be thrashed out later .