STRASBOURG: EU chief Ursula von der Leyen raised the prospect on Wednesday of Canada becoming the 27-nation bloc’s first “associate member’, as she pitched closer cooperation on tech, defence and energy to Canadian leader Mark Carney.

Von der Leyen told the European Parliament in Strasbourg that, as democracies face a “fracture in the international rules-based system”, Brussels and Ottawa needed to pull closer together.

“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 the Canadian prime minister, who was attending her annual keynote speech — drawing a standing ovation in the chamber.

Carney has been pursuing closer ties with the European Union, as both seek to pivot away from a hostile United States under President Donald Trump. The first foreign head of government to attend the annual “State of the European Union” speech — before addressing the parliament himself the next day — his visit is meant to act as a catalyst ahead of an EU-Canada summit in Montreal next month.

Von der Leyen says democracies face dangerous ‘fracture in the international rules-based system’

Von der Leyen said it was time to move from cooperation based on trade to a broader “alliance for the future” and “bring the relationship with Canada to the highest level possible”. “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,” she said.

She listed energy, critical minerals, batteries, AI, cyber and economic security, as other fields of cooperation. “This is a partnership not against anyone else, but for our common strength,” she added.

What’s in a name

EU treaties do not envision the possibility of becoming an “associate member”. But the idea was first floated by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz this year vis-a-vis Ukraine.

Under that plan, which met a cold reception in Kyiv as it pushes for full membership, Ukraine would have been allowed to attend the bloc’s summits and have a representative in the European Commission.

It would have also benefited from parts of the EU budget, but without full voting rights. “We don’t really know yet what it means,” said Tobias Cremer, a centre-left European lawmaker from Germany and the main sponsor of a March resolution urging stronger EU-Canada cooperation, after von der Leyen’s “associate membership” pitch. But a closer alliance “inherently” made sense, he added. “Not just because we share values and history but because we share common interests, we share a strategic vision,” he said.

Valerie Hayer, the head of the centrist Renew group, envisaged an even broader partnership as she took the floor after von der Leyen, telling lawmakers Ottawa and Brussels must respond together to tariffs and “trade coercion”, and foster university exchanges among other things. Others were less enthusiastic.

Published in Dawn, September 17th, 2026