The word Germany worked hard to keep out of the summit communiqué was the one Mark Carney chose to say out loud. Closing the Canada-EU meeting in Montreal on Friday, the Canadian prime minister said Ottawa wants to be the first country ever granted associate membership of the Union, and that he wants the talks wrapped up by June 2027.
The signed declaration itself is more cautious. It promises an “ever closer association” linking the two sides, falling short of membership, after Berlin pushed for the softer phrasing. Berlin’s concern, according to diplomats, is that the M-word for a looser tie could blur the separate question of enlargement, while candidates like Ukraine are still talking about joining for real.
Ursula von der Leyen floated the idea in her State of the Union speech in September, surprising several capitals that had not been consulted. In Montreal the Commission president stood next to Carney and António Costa, who chairs the European Council, and kept championing it, pointing to early gains: Canada’s full participation in the Horizon research and Erasmus exchange programmes, and Ottawa signing on to the Ukraine support loan.
Carney spoke of the closest tie imaginable without actually joining, adding that what it contains and how far it reaches still have to be worked out. The next step is a joint session of the European Commission and the Canadian cabinet in March, followed by Carney’s planned appearance at the June gathering of EU leaders.
Nobody has yet explained how the deal would be ratified. EU governments would need to approve it, and Carney has promised MPs in Ottawa their own debate and vote, so a status the EU treaties never foresaw still faces a long road.
