Prime minister’s speech comes as Canada looks beyond the U.S. and Europe seeks closer alliances.
Mark Carney addressed the European Parliament a day after Ursula von der Leyen’s surprise proposal to make Canada the EU’s first “associate member” left capitals scrambling.
Questions remain on what the new status would mean, how it would differ from existing partnerships — and how it will all go down with Washington, after Donald Trump threatened “serious tariffs” on Europe if it followed through.
Carney name-checked the term, lauding von der Leyen’s “opening the door to Canada becoming the EU’s first associate member,” adding that he welcomes the ambition.
Pressed by reporters after his address on whether he preferred calling the new EU-Canada relationship an “Alliance for the Future” or “associate membership,” he shrugged off the distinction.
“President von der Leyen used both terms, alliance for the future and associate membership. The nomenclature is a question for Europe, what terms they use,” he says. “What matters is the substance. What are we actually building together.”
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