The European Union and Canada have dropped the idea of Canada becoming an ‘associate member’ of the bloc from a draft joint declaration ahead of a summit in Montreal, according to reports based on the draft text.
Al Jazeera reported that the terms ‘associate member’ and ‘associated membership’ were removed from the joint draft Canada-EU statement. Al Jazeera attributed the report to dpa and Reuters, which reported it on Thursday.
The declaration, which Reuters has seen, agrees to ‘ever closer association’ but drops associate EU membership, according to France 24. Officials plan to make the declaration public on Friday.
DW reported, citing diplomats quoted by dpa and AFP, that German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and several other EU leaders pushed to remove the term. France 24 reported that diplomats said Germany led a group that argued it could not sign up to a concept with no legal status that had not been fleshed out.
The draft statement proposes a joint feasibility study on Canadian liquefied natural gas exports to Europe. It also proposes a joint initiative on new subsea cable infrastructure linking Europe, Canada and Asia, according to Al Jazeera.
Carney said the summit launches formal negotiations that would take another year. He said, according to Al Jazeera, that ‘it doesn’t matter about specific names or nomenclature.’
Von der Leyen first proposed associate membership for Canada in September. There is no precedent or legal definition for an EU ‘associate member,’ and EU treaties do not provide for such status.
US President Donald Trump called the proposal ‘laughable.’ He said he might stop trading with Europe ‘on many things’ if he saw it as a ‘hostile act.’ France 24 reported that Canada ships nearly 70% of its exports to the US, and that the EU accounts for about 9% of Canada’s total trade.
The White House said only that US and Canadian trade officials are talking. No fuller US government response was reported.
The final declaration had not been published when these reports were written, so the account relies on draft text and reports of it. No response from Canadian officials to the removal of the term was reported. The key facts come from three outlets that report the same core details, and no independent confirmation beyond the cited diplomats and wire reports was available.
The declaration is expected to be published Friday, at the end of the two-day summit in Montreal. Formal negotiations on the relationship are set to continue for another year, with a next summit planned for 2027.
Sources
This article was written with AI assistance from the published reporting listed above. It is part of the World Brief daily news podcast.