Carney wants Canada to be an ‘associate member’ of the EU: report

Canada is not seeking to join the European Union as a full-fledged member, but Prime Minister Mark Carney is reportedly testing how close the country can get via deeper economic and societal integration.

According to the Wall Street Journal , the Canadian leader has suggested to some of his European peers that Canada should become the EU’s first-ever “associate member,” a status that doesn’t yet legally exist within the enclave. Moreover, the Journal reported that unnamed officials on both sides said the 27-member EU, traditionally rigid about who joins its ranks, is amenable to the concept.

While early, Carney has reportedly informed his officials the result “will be the reorienting of an economy and a society that for half a century has been dominated by the U.S.”

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The bureaucratic talks are “terribly unsexy,” one Canadian official told the Journal, but they are “terribly consequential nonetheless.”

The news comes as Carney is set to address the European Parliament and meet with members “to strengthen Canada’s ties with the EU in trade, investment, and security.” His speech will come the day after EU President Ursula von der Leyen announces a new deal with Canada to broaden collaboration on defence, trade and other areas.

Meanwhile, on Sept. 20th, the prime minister will return to Europe when he meets French President Emmanuel Macron in Saint-Pierre-and-Miquelon, a French archipelago colony of France about 25 kilometres south of Newfoundland, where his office said the two will discuss “partnership in strategic sectors, including aerospace, energy and critical minerals, and advanced technologies such as quantum, satellites, and supercomputing.”

His visit is the first official one made by a Canadian prime minister, AFP reported.