Carney wants Canada to be an ‘associate member’ of the EU: report

Canada is not seeking to join the European Union as a full-fledged member, but Prime Minister Mark Carney is reportedly testing how close the country can get via deeper economic and societal integration.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the Canadian leader has suggested to some of his European peers that Canada should become the EU’s first-ever “associate member,” a status that doesn’t yet legally exist within the enclave. Moreover, the Journal reported that unnamed officials on both sides said the 27-member EU, traditionally rigid about who joins its ranks, is amenable to the concept.

While early, Carney has reportedly informed his officials the result “will be the reorienting of an economy and a society that for half a century has been dominated by the U.S.”

The bureaucratic talks are “terribly unsexy,” one Canadian official told the Journal, but they are “terribly consequential nonetheless.”

The news comes as Carney is set to address the European Parliament and meet with members “to strengthen Canada’s ties with the EU in trade, investment, and security.” His speech will come the day after EU President Ursula von der Leyen announces a new deal with Canada to broaden collaboration on defence, trade and other areas.

Meanwhile, on Sept. 20th, the prime minister will return to Europe when he meets French President Emmanuel Macron in Saint-Pierre-and-Miquelon, a French archipelago colony of France about 25 kilometres south of Newfoundland, where his office said the two will discuss “partnership in strategic sectors, including aerospace, energy and critical minerals, and advanced technologies such as quantum, satellites, and supercomputing.”

His visit is the first official one made by a Canadian prime minister, AFP reported.

Some of these discussions are a continuation of the many that Carney has reportedly had in response to the souring of Canada’s deeply integrated relationship with the United States under President Donald Trump and his administration.

Instead of pulling Canada closer to the U.S. on America’s terms, the trade war has pushed Ottawa towards the EU and its “$21 trillion single market.”

The concept would allow Canada’s goods, services and workers in defence, energy, AI, and critical minerals to “move frictionlessly” in Europe.

“While there are multiple hurdles to dance around, European officials envision major Canadian companies could effectively lock in as single market suppliers for decades to come,” the Journal reported.

Unnamed officials said Macron and Carney have discussed the possibility of Canadians living and working in Europe without requiring a visa and that the prime minister has also expressed an interest in joining the EU’s study-abroad program, Erasmus+ — an exchange program supporting education, training, youth, and sport across Europe.