Carney says EU and Canada will define 'deepest possible partnership' by mid-2027

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Friday he and his European counterparts would define the scale and scope of a "new form" of European Union membership over the coming months, and that Canada ‌would become its first "associate member." The term, first suggested by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, is so divisive among member countries that it does not appear in the final statement of a Canada-EU summit in Montreal.

Carney said the EU and Canada were launching an "alliance for the future," to focus on resilience in areas including AI, energy and critical minerals. "We are working ‌towards the deepest possible partnership, short of accession," he said, adding that this would result in "Canada becoming the European Union’s first Associate Member."

The associate member term, which Germany and ‌several other EU countries oppose, has no legal meaning. Draft versions of the final statement had contained at least two references to Canada being an "associate member," without explaining what that meant. In a joint statement released to mark the end of the summit, Canadian and EU leaders cited an “unwavering commitment to effective multilateralism, democracy and to the rules-based international order."

The statement said Canada and the EU would work to resolve the conflicts in Ukraine and ⁠the Middle ​East and deepen security ties elsewhere, including in ⁠the Arctic. US President Donald Trump has adopted a more transactional approach to foreign policy and has repeatedly attacked multilateral institutions and threatened to make Canada the 51st state. Last month, he threatened trade sanctions in response to ⁠von der Leyen's proposal to create a new status for the EU-Canada relationship.

TRADE MATTERS The statement said talks had been concluded on a digital trade agreement that would complement the existing trade agreement between Canada ​and the EU. Trade with the EU accounts for about 9% of Canada's trade, according to government statistics. Although Canada has a trade deal with the 27-member EU, ⁠10 countries have not ratified it.

Lori Turnbull, a political science professor at Dalhousie University in Halifax, said that a closer relationship with the EU could inadvertently create problems for Carney domestically, particularly in Quebec, where the sovereigntist ⁠Parti ​Quebecois (PQ) was elected this month. Before the EU-Canada summit, PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon said he was not being given the platform to represent Quebec in negotiating a new alliance with the EU.

“Plamondon would likely say that Quebec should either have a veto on such a negotiation or its own associate membership or some such thing, so he'd ⁠be keen to be a thorn in Prime Minister Carney's side on this front,” Turnbull said. In recent weeks, Carney has faced independence movements from Quebec and Alberta, potential complications ⁠as he aims to unify the country during ⁠efforts to reach a trade deal with the US, where nearly 70% of Canadian exports are shipped.

Carney said he had accepted the European Council president's invitation to attend meetings in Europe next June, where he said talks on the deeper relationship would be concluded. "We ‌are building the industries ‌and infrastructure that underwrite our collective security," Carney said. "This is only the beginning."

(Additional reporting by Ryan ​Jones, Editing by Ros Russell and Timothy Heritage)