EU chief pitches 'associate member' status for Canada

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen raised the prospect of Canada becoming the bloc's first "associate member" Wednesday, a day before Canadian leader Mark Carney was due to address the European Parliament.

Von der Leyen pitched closer cooperation on tech, defence and energy to Carney, who became the first non-European head of government to attend the annual "State of the European Union" speech.

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, 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.

He is set to address the parliament on Thursday, with his visit meant to act as a catalyst ahead of an EU-Canada summit in Montreal next month.

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 said.

But both the EU and Canada have been buffeted by tariffs and territorial threats from the US and competition from China.

"In a more dangerous and divided world, Canada is forging stronger relationships with trusted partners," Carney's office said in a statement.

Discussions with von der Leyen focused on areas including critical minerals, energy, defence, research and development, and advanced technologies, it added.

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

Under that plan, which met a cold reception from a country pushing 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 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 told AFP.

Under EU rules, member states have to approve any form of partnership with a third country and it was unclear how much support von der Leyen's proposal would receive from capitals.

Brussels and Ottawa already enjoy a considerable level of cooperation.

The CETA free-trade agreement that abolished almost all tariffs has been credited with boosting trade in goods and services by more than 80 percent since 2016.

And this year Canada became the first non-EU country to join a flagship defence loan programme.

After holding talks with von der Leyen Wednesday, Carney flew to Britain for his first meeting with Britain's new prime minister, Andy Burnham.

Carney told Burnham there was an "opportunity for us to to build together the right values around AI" and to "cooperate on defense and trade".

They then attended a football match between Everton and Wolverhampton together before Carney returns to Strasbourg for his Thursday speech.

"We believe that power does not belong to the strongest, the richest or the loudest -- but to all of us. That democracies have the freedom to choose with whom to work," von der Leyen said. 

"We share one ocean, one set of values, one way of seeing the world. And we will now build our shared future as well," she concluded.