STRASBOURG, September 17 — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is seeking to build what he calls a “unique alliance” with the European Union, a vision he was expected to outline in a speech at the European Parliament on Thursday, following his attendance at the State of the European Union address in Strasbourg on Wednesday. The Wall Street Journal reported that Canada was considering becoming an “associate member” of the EU, while not aiming for full membership.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, delivering her address to European lawmakers with Carney in the chamber, signaled openness to an expanded partnership. “We believe that power does not belong to the strongest, the richest or the loudest, but to all of us,” she said.
“That democracies have the freedom to choose with whom to work.”
A partnership spanning defense, energy and technology
Von der Leyen said an EU-Canada partnership would cover advanced manufacturing, technology, defense production, the Arctic, energy, critical minerals, batteries, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, cybersecurity and economic security. The breadth of that list matters. It maps almost exactly onto the sectors where Western capitals are trying to reduce dependence on China for critical minerals and on the United States for security guarantees.
The EU has a range of options for ties with non-EU countries, from free trade agreements that scrap tariffs and trade barriers, to association agreements with political elements, to far-reaching economic arrangements such as participation in the common European market, as is the case for Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. The bloc has already negotiated association agreements with Turkey, Israel and Ukraine, which have different objectives and may or may not mark a preliminary step toward full membership.
Patrick Leblond, an expert on international economic relations at the University of Ottawa, considers it unlikely that Canada would adopt European laws or join the EU single market or customs union, which would mean imposing common external tariffs. Leblond said Carney is likely more interested in forming a kind of alliance that deepens cooperation on economic security and defense. “We have, in a way, taken the US [security] umbrella for granted on both sides.
We have underinvested in our militaries,” Leblond told DW, adding that the focus was now on joining forces, for example in the production of military equipment and the development of new technologies.
Defense procurement is the sharpest edge of the deal
Security analyst Anand Sundar of the European Council on Foreign Relations also sees great potential for European-Canadian defense cooperation. Canada spends about 70% of its defense budget on US-made equipment, according to Sundar, and Carney wants to change that.
The analyst said it would pay off for Canadians to be part of European defense projects to get “more bang for their buck.” Canada has already joined the EU’s Security Action for Europe (SAFE) program, which provides EU member states with up to €150 billion ($173 billion/CA$241 billion) in loans for the joint procurement of military equipment.
To qualify for funding, no more than 35% of the cost of the components can come from countries outside the EU, the European Economic Area or Ukraine, yet because Canada joined the SAFE program by paying a fee, more lenient procurement rules apply to its companies. Canadian companies still face significant hurdles for producing and purchasing weapons in partnership with European firms, Sundar told DW.
The big question, he added, is how far the EU is willing to relax its own rules, which could also have implications for non-EU countries such as the United Kingdom or Norway. “But the biggest draw for the European Union is really the fact that Canada is an underrated defense power,” said Sundar.
Canada, the expert added, spends more on defense than the 14 smallest EU member states combined. The North American country invests 2% of its gross domestic product on defense, Sundar said, with an increase expected in the coming years. Canada, like other NATO countries, has committed to spending a total of 5% of its GDP on defense by 2035, of which 3.5% will go toward military equipment and the remaining 1.5% toward other defense-related areas.
Energy, infrastructure and the trade foundation
The EU and Canada also intend to discuss potential cooperation in the field of critical infrastructure expansion, such as the joint operation of space satellites or maintenance of fiber-optic cables in the North Atlantic, Leblond said. The goal here, too, is to become less dependent on the US and its companies. Canada has oil and gas reserves that could meet some of the bloc’s energy demands.
Trade relations between both have already been codified through the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), which entered into force on a provisional basis in September 2017. The agreement eliminates nearly all tariffs.
What this signals is a structural shift in how middle powers are positioning themselves. Carney’s push stops short of membership, and Leblond’s read is that Ottawa has no appetite for European law or a customs union. But the associate-member concept, layered on top of SAFE participation
