EU drops offer to Canada on associate member talks ahead of Montreal summit
A leaked draft joint statement for the Montreal EU-Canada summit commits the two sides to define an ever closer association short of full membership by 2027.
The story in focus
The EU has backed away from its offer to Canada to start talks on becoming an associate member, with a leaked draft joint statement instead committing the two sides to define an ever closer association short of full membership by the 2027 summit, The Guardian reports.
- The EU has dropped its offer to Canada to start associate membership talks.
- A leaked draft joint statement for the Montreal summit instead commits the two sides to define an ever closer association short of full membership by 2027.
- The offer followed European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's state-of-the-union proposal last month.
- EU member states raised political and legal concerns about the undefined status.
- The Montreal summit runs Thursday and Friday.
Offer dropped before Montreal summit
The European Union has backed away from its offer to Canada to start talks on becoming an associate member, as an EU-Canada summit was set to begin in Montreal, The Guardian reports.
A leaked draft of the joint statement to be issued after the summit, which runs Thursday and Friday, instead offers an ever closer association of Canada to the EU short of full membership. It states the two sides would work to define the concept by the 2027 EU-Canada summit.
The offer was triggered last month when European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced in her state-of-the-union address that the EU would consider associate membership for Canada.
Member state pushback
The declaration caught EU capitals by surprise and led to political and legal pushback. Because associate status has no definition, diplomats questioned whether Canada could join the European Council or decision-making processes without a vote.
At a meeting on Monday, EU ambassadors raised concerns about the offer. Italy suggested associate membership as proposed by the commission with the definition to be settled later, while Germany proposed the wording an ever closer association of Canada. Germany argued the status should be reserved as an interim step for prospective candidate countries such as Ukraine or Montenegro.
Associate membership had been mooted and rejected previously for countries such as Ukraine.
Trade context
US President Donald Trump previously called the EU proposal laughable and said the US might stop trading with Europe on many things if he interpreted the move as a hostile act.
Ahead of the summit, TD Economics said there was meaningful upside for Canada if it deepened economic ties with Europe, with tens of billions of dollars in additional trade possible if barriers were removed in areas such as defence, energy, critical minerals and digital markets.
What does the leaked draft joint statement commit the EU and Canada to?
It commits the two sides to work to define by the 2027 EU-Canada summit the concept of an ever closer association of Canada to the EU, short of full membership, reflecting cooperation towards prosperity, economic security and strategic autonomy.
Sources & further reading
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