A draft declaration for this week's Montreal summit drops the idea of Canadian associate membership of the EU, replacing it with a promise of ever closer association, after objections from several member states.
Canada and the European Union have dropped the contentious idea of Canadian associate membership from a draft joint declaration, agreeing instead to pursue what the text calls an ever closer association, according to a draft seen by Reuters ahead of a summit in Montreal starting on Thursday.
An earlier draft had said the two sides would work to define by the 2027 EU-Canada Summit the concept of associate member, reflecting their shared goals of prosperity, economic security and strategic autonomy. The revised wording reads that they will create an even closer association and work to define by that 2027 summit the concept of an ever closer association of Canada to the EU, short of full membership itself. The declaration is planned to be made public on Friday.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed associate membership in her State of the European Union speech about six weeks ago. The idea divided member states: Germany led a group, including Greece and France, that argued they could not sign up to a concept with no legal status that had not yet been fleshed out, diplomats said. There is no precedent or legal definition for an EU associate member.
The draft wording is supported by reporting from both Reuters and Politico, which agree on the change from associate member to ever closer association and on the 2027 summit as the point by which the relationship is to be defined. The text itself has not yet been finally approved: Politico reported that EU countries had until 6 p.m. to raise objections, so the Montreal wording could still change before it is published.
The stakes run beyond the label. Closer ties to Europe are central to Prime Minister Mark Carney's effort to reduce Canada's economic and security reliance on the United States since President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on Canadian goods, and Carney told reporters on Tuesday that the summit launches a further year of formal negotiations. Trump has previously called the associate member proposal laughable and warned that if he interpreted it as a hostile act, the United States might stop trading with Europe on many things, a risk that hangs over the summit even as the two sides deepen cooperation.
Carney himself played down the wording fight, saying it does not matter about specific names or nomenclature and that what matters is the difference it will make to the lives of Canadians. The test of that claim comes on Friday, when the declaration is published and the Montreal summit shows whether the softer language still carries concrete commitments on trade, defence and economic security.