Listen : Will Canada ever become an associate member of the EU?

Production: By Europod, in co-production with Sphera Network. EUobserver is proud to have an editorial partnership with Europod to co-publish the podcast series “Briefed” hosted by Léa Marchal. The podcast is available on all major platforms. Find the full transcript below: The EU-Canada summit opens today in Montreal and runs until tomorrow (30 October). One idea is overshadowing the meeting: making Canada an “associate member” of the EU. However, the 27 member states are far from agreed on it. So, what can we actually expect from this summit? Canada is, let’s say, one of the EU’s favourite partners. And it went as far as this: Ursula von der Leyen proposing to make Canada an associate member of the EU. This came as a surprise, because the idea had not been discussed with the 27 member states. And now that we are getting into the details, it has become a real issue. So much so that the EU is scrambling at the last minute to agree on the wording to use during the summit with Ottawa. As an illustration, as recently as yesterday, the EU still didn’t know what to do with the term “associate member” in the joint EU-Canada declaration. Council officials had suggested mentioning the status, while making clear it was the Commission’s idea. But even in that form, Germany, France, Italy and Greece objected. Why? First, because no decision was ever taken through the proper channels.And above all, because the status simply doesn’t exist. The word “member” is already a problem, because it implies some form of participation in the EU. And the treaties limit that to a certain geographical area, which, as you can imagine, doesn’t stretch across the Atlantic. So what does the Commission actually have in mind? According to an EU official, associate member status would mean consulting each other even more on a number of policies: climate, energy, AI, security and so on. Canada could also join some EU programmes more automatically. Although in reality, it already takes part in several of them, such as Horizon, the research programme, or SAFE, the defence loan instrument. The same official says there would also be more regular meetings to coordinate positions. But all of this remains very vague. For many observers, von der Leyen’s proposal was above all a way to show the friendship between the EU and Canada, at a time when the United States is behaving in a threatening way. Now, what does Canada think of this? When von der Leyen made her proposal in her speech, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney welcomed it, as diplomacy and politeness require. Since then, according to Canadian media, he has avoided using the expression “associate member”. And in any case, Canada has no intention of joining the EU. It simply isn’t something it is interested in. So whether there are ways to deepen cooperation is, once again, still to be seen. The summit, will surely not bring answers or decisions on such a relationship.More time will be needed to discuss a new status, or leave it completely. In the meantime, the two blocs will sign what they call an “alliance for the future”. It is less binding and more consensual. That’s what bilateral summits like this are for: reminding everyone of existing alliances, or clarifying them in some cases. Both sides adopt a joint declaration, a document in which they try to announce shared projects and take common positions on major international issues. But as for associate membership, that will have to wait.