Carney Seeking Potential EU Associate Membership for Canada, Report Says - Aman Shanti News

Prime Minister Mark Carney takes part in a press conference during the Canada-EU Summit in Brussels, Belgium, on June 23, 2025. The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick

Prime Minister Mark Carney is exploring the idea of making Canada an “associate member” of the European Union and has spoken with EU leaders about visa-free work and residency for Canadians, The Wall Street Journal reported.

EU members would be open to the idea of an associate membership for Canada but would need to create that category of membership, which does not currently exist, the report published on Sept. 13 says.

Under Article 49 of the Treaty on European Union a country must be a European state and must first be granted candidate country status by the European Council following an opinion from the European Commission.

Talk of an agreement between the bloc and Canada comes amid talks on trade, defence, communications networks, and energy, according to the report.

The push for closer ties with Europe comes as Canada seeks to diversify its international partnerships amid an increasingly difficult relationship with the United States. In an Aug. 22 address, Carney spoke of Canada “building at home and diversifying trade abroad” and announced plans for discussions with the EU on a “much stronger and deeper security and economic partnership.”

Carney has several planned meetings with EU leaders, including a trip from Sept. 15 to 17 that will take him to Strasbourg, France, and Liverpool, United Kingdom. The trip is intended to “strengthen Canada’s ties with the EU in trade, investment, and security,” according to a Sept. 12 news release.

In Strasbourg, he is to address the European Parliament, at the invitation of President Roberta Metsola, and will attend European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s State of the EU address.

In Liverpool, Carney is to meet with UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham, for the first time, with whom he will “discuss priorities for the Canada-UK relationship, specifically related to defence and security, energy, artificial intelligence, and critical minerals.”

Carney will also meet with French President Emmanuel Macron in Saint Pierre et Miquelon, France, on Sept. 20 to “discuss deepening the Canada-France partnership in strategic sectors, including aerospace, energy and critical minerals, and advanced technologies such as quantum, satellites, and supercomputing.”

From Oct. 29 to 30, Canada will host the Canada-EU Summit.

“In a more dangerous and divided world, Canada and our European partners are moving ever closer,” Carney said. “Together, Canada and our European partners have the ambition and strength to create a more just, stable, and universally prosperous world.”

Asked by a reporter during a Sept. 10 news conference on Parliament Hill whether full EU membership was in the cards for Canada, Carney avoided the question, instead highlighting Canada-EU cooperation on defence and “Canada’s deepening relationship with European partners.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre spoke critically of the suggestion that Canada could join the EU in some capacity.

“Will European border policies apply in Canada, further overwhelming our immigration system while our youth can’t find homes?” he wrote in a Sept. 13 post on X.

Poilievre also expressed concerns about whether taxes would be collected from Canadian businesses under such an arrangement and how small businesses would be able to navigate the “bloated EU bureaucracy.”

“And one more: who decides for Canada? The Welland welder did not elect a Eurocrat to regulate our steel. The Saskatchewan farmer and the Atlantic fisherman did not choose a Brussels agrifood regulator that has never even seen our prairies or coasts.”

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