Canada Wants to Be the EU's First "Associate Member." What Ottawa's Turn to Brussels Means for Washington
Mark Carney set a June 2027 target after this week's summit in Montreal. But the EU treaties have no such category, Germany balked at the label, and Canada's tariff fight with the United States is still running.
By Clara Hughes
Canada's prime minister wants his country to become something the European Union has never had: an "associate member." After a bilateral summit in Montreal, Mark Carney said on Friday that Canada and the EU aim to finish negotiations on that status by June 2027, Euronews reported. "We are working towards the deepest possible partnership short of accession, because of our geography, with Canada becoming the European Union's first associate member," Carney told the closing press conference, according to Euronews. "We're just getting started." There is less here than the headline suggests, at least for now. Euronews reported that the proposed status "has no basis in the EU treaties," that its practical implications "remain to be negotiated," and that Germany opposed the term "associate member" during talks on the joint declaration. The final text speaks only of an "ever closer association." For Americans, the more important story is the direction of travel. Canada, America's