EU wants Canada as its first ‘associate member.’ What does that mean?

The European Union wants Canada as its first “associate member” and to “urgently reimagine” their relationship, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said during her annual State of the Union address in France on Wednesday.

“Dear Mark, I said we must urgently reimagine our partnerships. So, I would like to work with you on opening the door for Canada to be the first associate member of the EU,” von der Leyen told Prime Minister Mark Carney, who was attending the speech.

The EU has delivered greater stability across the continent, greater mobility for its citizens, and a single market that gives Europe global economic weight.

An honour to hear President von der Leyen address the European Parliament today as we build a deeper partnership for the… pic.twitter.com/SzQDWvxBU9

— Mark Carney (@MarkJCarney) September 16, 2026

“We share one ocean, one set of values, one way of seeing the world. And we will now build our shared future as well – thank you for being here,” she said.

“In short, we want to bring the relationship with Canada to the highest level possible,” she added.

The EU does not have an “associate” membership status. If Canada is granted this status, it would be the first country to receive it.

The bloc’s list of 28 member states went down to 27 when the United Kingdom formally left the EU in January 2020. Currently, the EU is negotiating full membership rights for six countries – Montenegro, Albania, Serbia, Moldova, Ukraine and North Macedonia.

Bosnia and Herzegovina and Georgia have both been granted candidate status by the EU, while Kosovo submitted its own application in 2022.

EU membership negotiations with Turkey have been frozen since 2016.

Dear @MarkJCarney we want to bring the relationship with Canada to the highest level possible.

I would like to work with you on opening the door for Canada to being the first associate member of the EU.

And create a common prosperity and economic security space. pic.twitter.com/GqIjGBz6aY

— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) September 16, 2026

However, an “associate membership” for Canada might look more like Norway, which is not an EU member states but has access to the European single market, said David Perry, president and CEO of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute.

Norway, along with Iceland and Liechstentein, gets access to the European Economic Area but in exchange, it has to harmonize its regulations with those of the EU.

“We would potentially have to do something like that,” Perry said.

What could Canada’s integration look like?

“It’s too early to tell exactly what we could have on offer, but also what would come in terms of costs or work required to actually get those benefits,” Perry said.

Carney and von der Leyen met on Wednesday, after which Carney said in a statement he “welcomed” her proposal to move towards a “a far stronger, more ambitious alliance in the future.”

Later in the day, Carney was in England where he met with British Prime Minister Andy Burnham.

Von der Leyen said Canada and the EU have already increased their volume of trade by 75 per cent in less than a decade since the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) was signed.

While the trade deal has been provisionally implemented, it isn’t yet fully ratified as some European Union member states still need to ratify the agreement in their individual legislatures.

Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Poland and Slovenia are the states that haven’t yet ratified CETA.

Canada and the EU are natural partners, united by shared values. With President von der Leyen and President Metsola, we focused on what comes next: a deeper partnership that reinforces our mutual sovereignty to create more opportunities and prosperity for our peoples. pic.twitter.com/GdOq5t7mGf

The European Union and Canada would move from CETA to an Alliance for the Future, von der Leyen said.

In her speech, she laid out some of the priority areas for deeper integration between Canada and the bloc.

“We will work on intelligent manufacturing. We will create a tech alliance. We will integrate defence industrial bases. We will make the Arctic a flagship joint project. We will work on energy, critical minerals and batteries. On AI, quantum, cyber and economic security,” von der Leyen said.

In December 2025, Canada agreed to participate in the Security Action for Europe (SAFE) program, which aims to facilitate joint purchases of arms and military equipment to rearm the continent amid increasingly global turmoil and threats to European security.

So far, the results from Canada’s involvement have been limited.

“We’ve only been involved in one project for $20 million with one EU member state. Between one small dollar contract for radios and an integrated member in the European industrial base, there’s a long way to go,” Perry added.

Is the U.S. pushing Canada closer to EU?

The talk of Canadian membership comes as the U.S. escalates its trade war against Canada escalates and as U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly asserted the NATO military alliance, of which Canada is a member, is not pulling its weight.

“This is a partnership not against anyone else, but for our common strength,” von der Leyen said.

The reaction to the Trump administration’s tone is unmistakable, Perry said.

“The enhanced level of cooperation is being driven by the reaction to the Trump administration. There’s no getting around that. That’s the case in Ottawa and the case in Brussels and elsewhere in Europe,” he said.

In Strasbourg to deepen Canada’s relationship with the EU. We see the benefits of a stronger partnership — to our economies, our security, and our mutual sovereignty. We’re working fast to forge it. pic.twitter.com/JFy9fMpcGx

There are still many roadblocks ahead for deeper integration, Perry said.

For one, member states would have to agree to Canada’s joining.

“If the agreement actually requires members in the European Union to agree to whatever’s on the table, then that’s a whole separate process,” he said.

A German government spokesperson told Reuters that while they support deeper integration with Canada, the term “associate member” should be “reconsidered.”

“Canada is a particularly close partner for Europe. That is why we are open to discussing new models of partnership,” the spokesperson said.

“But as for the terminology — the label attached to it — we ought to reconsider that,” they added.

Carney has previously said that Canada was “not looking” to gain EU membership but was working to develop a “unique alliance” with Brussels.

On the other hand, the Carney government would also need to navigate domestic politics to align its own regulatory framework with the “very dense set of regulatory webs,” Perry said.

“The EU’s bread and butter is regulation,” he added.

“Canadians shouldn’t expect to be filling out passport applications for EU passports anytime soon,” he said.