Canada moves to become EU's first 'Associate Member'
Washington, Oct 31
Canada and the European Union have agreed to work towards making Canada the bloc's first "Associate Member", a partnership short of full membership, as the two sides launched what they called an "Alliance for the Future" at a summit in Montreal.
"Canada and the EU are working towards the deepest possible partnership - short of full membership - with Canada becoming the European Union's first Associate Member," Prime Minister Mark Carney posted on X on Friday.
"Today in Montréal, we took a major step forward with more than twenty new measures that will create greater affordability, opportunity, and sovereignty on both sides of the Atlantic," he wrote.
European Council President Antonio Costa said the summit had broken new ground. "At today's EU-Canada Summit, we made history," Costa posted. "We agreed to an ever-closer association - everything short of a full EU membership."
According to the Canadian Prime Minister's Office, Canada and the EU "will determine the substance, scale, and scope of this form of membership" over the coming months.
The 21st Canada-EU summit was held in Montreal on October 29 and 30, with Carney hosting Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. The European Council said the leaders agreed on a joint statement.
Among the measures announced, Canada and the EU concluded a Digital Trade Agreement and negotiations on a Competition Agreement, and Canada joined the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking, giving its researchers access to the JUPITER supercomputer, the Prime Minister's Office said.
Canada signed a treaty framework allowing the European Investment Bank to invest in Canadian critical minerals projects, and the two sides will study increasing Canadian LNG exports to Europe and a new transatlantic data cable. Canada will also negotiate wider participation in Erasmus+ and joining the next Horizon Europe research programme.
On defence, the release announced Canada's second contract under the EU's Security Action for Europe (SAFE) initiative, worth more than $44 million, for Montreal-based Galvion to supply military helmets to Latvia.
"A more dangerous and divided world has fundamentally changed the requirements of sovereignty," the Prime Minister's Office said.
"Our Alliance with the European Union is built on shared history, common values, and mutual respect," Carney said in the release. "That is what sovereignty looks like: the freedom to live our lives as we choose, on our own terms."
The EU is Canada's second-largest trading partner for goods and services, with total trade of about $178 billion in 2025, according to the release.
— IANS
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