{"id":469805,"date":"2026-10-30T19:19:56","date_gmt":"2026-10-30T18:19:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2026\/10\/30\/ue-e-canada-si-avvicinano-il-piu-possibile-per-tenere-lontano-trump\/"},"modified":"2026-10-30T19:43:53","modified_gmt":"2026-10-30T18:43:53","slug":"the-eu-and-canada-are-drawing-as-close-together-as-possible-to-keep-trump-at-bay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/10\/30\/the-eu-and-canada-are-drawing-as-close-together-as-possible-to-keep-trump-at-bay\/","title":{"rendered":"The EU and Canada are drawing as close together as possible to keep Trump at bay"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels \u2013 Canada cannot be part of the European Union; geography and the ocean prevent this under the Treaties. But something new can be created, which could make the North American country a partner that is just “one step away from accession.” This is the political essence of the Montr\u00e9al summit held yesterday and today (29 and 30 October) between the European Union and Canada. The two sides cannot yet formally record the designation of Ottawa as an \u201cassociated member\u201d of the EU-27 \u2013 which consequently does not appear in the final Joint Statement of the summit<\/a>. However, not only is the issue by no means off the table, but it has emerged from the meeting with greater clarity. And it is only a matter of time. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney<\/strong> made this very clear at the press conference following the summit with the Presidents of the European Commission and the European Council, Ursula von der Leyen<\/strong> and Ant\u00f3nio Costa<\/strong>. \u201cWe are working to establish the deepest possible partnership \u2013 without going as far as full membership, given our geographical location. Canada will become the European Union\u2019s first associate member<\/strong>,\u201d he stated. <\/p>\n

The path to achieving this entirely new goal is clearly defined. \u201cOver the coming months, we will set out in detail the substance, scope, and remit of this new form\u201d of partnership, in which \u201cthe President and I will meet regularly to monitor progress,<\/strong>\u201d explains Carney. \u201cIn March, we will bring together the College of European Commissioners and our federal government here in Canada to take this work forward,<\/strong>\u201d he continues. Furthermore, \u201cI have accepted President Costa\u2019s invitation to attend the European Council meetings in June<\/strong>; by that date, we aim to conclude the ongoing negotiations and discussions,\u201d Carney explains. For the Prime Minister, and for the people of Europe and Canada, this means \u201cgreater opportunities, greater economic accessibility and, yes, stronger sovereignty.\u201d <\/p>\n

In the text of the declaration, the leaders state: \u201cWe will work to define, by the 2027 EU\u2013Canada summit, the concept of an ever closer partnership between Canada and the EU \u2013
\nshort of full membership itself<\/p>\n

 \u2013
\n to reflect, through this even closer association, our common endeavour and cooperation towards our shared goals of prosperity, economic security and strategic autonomy.\u201d <\/p>\n

But the leaders\u2019 remarks at the press conference reveal something more. \u201cOur relationship is so special that we want to create something new: to go beyond a simple association, coming within a hair\u2019s breadth of full EU membership<\/strong>,\u201d Costa explains. \u201cOurs will be the closest, deepest, and most unique association of its kind<\/strong>. We will achieve this through a more intensive commitment at the highest political levels, identifying shared priorities and coordinating our responses to common challenges. It is a path we have already begun to tread,\u201d continues the Prime Minister, recalling Carney\u2019s participation in several EU and European Political Community meetings. <\/p>\n

The first to speak of Canada as an associate member of the EU in her State of the Union address in September<\/a>, von der Leyen describes the concept of an associate member as \u201cuncharted territory.\u201d But she tries to provide a little more detail. \u201cThe idea is simple: an association without membership,\u201d replacing \u201cthe concept of \u2018membership\u2019 with a shared ambition and vision,<\/strong>\u201d she explains. In other words, \u201cwe can establish a strong partnership that comes much closer to membership than we have done in the past,\u201d with three objectives: \u201cGreater opportunities for our citizens, greater prosperity on both sides of the Atlantic, and greater security for all of us.\u201d To achieve this, von der Leyen identifies three pillars: \u201cpolicies, programmes, and governance,\u201d defining a greater number of policies \u201cjointly\u201d; ensuring Canada\u2019s \u201cmore comprehensive\u201d participation in EU programmes; and, finally, bringing the institutions closer together. She emphasised: \u201cThis is a partnership not against anyone else, but for our shared strength.\u201d <\/p>\n

Amid the vagueness of the wording and the political work that lies ahead for the EU and Canada, one thing is clear in the meantime: Ottawa\u2019s inclusion in the “Made in Europe” concept<\/strong>, that is, the “European preference” for public procurement in strategic sectors, starting with steel, cement, aluminium, the automotive industry, and net-zero emission technologies. \u201cThe Industrial Accelerator Act has been proposed by the Commission<\/a> \u2018so as to include all countries with which we have a free trade agreement\u2019, he notes, referring to the proposal launched in March to accelerate the decarbonisation of European industry. With Canada, \u2018we have CETA, so Canada would automatically be included, of course\u2019, she observes. <\/p>\n

Montr\u00e9al, however, looks towards Washington in the distance. According to the President of the European Commission, \u201cCanada is, without a doubt, the most European country outside Europe<\/strong>\u201d and what unites the two sides<\/strong> \u201cgoes far beyond geography.<\/strong>\u201d These words were directed at Carney, but also at Donald Trump, just a few days before the mid-term elections. \u201cWhat matters today is not a country\u2019s location on the map, but what it is willing to build together with us and the values it represents in a world characterised by strong headwinds at a geopolitical level,\u201d says the President, alluding to the path of estrangement taken by the US partner. For her, these are winds that \u201cwill not stop blowing\u201d because they represent \u201ca permanent change.\u201d Therefore, \u201cthe time has come to act with confidence and foresight to build a new future\u201d and \u201cthis is precisely what makes today\u2019s summit so unique and so historic.\u201d <\/p>\n

Finally, a reassurance that the future will put to the test. According to von der Leyen, there is \u201cbroad support\u201d and \u201ca shared ambition\u201d amongst EU Member States to bring Canada closer to the Union, and there is also \u201ca large majority in favour\u201d of the project within the \u201cEuropean Parliament.\u201d The coming months will reveal whether a Union preoccupied with the upcoming election year and mired in the struggles and divisions involved in agreeing a common budget for the 2028\u20132034 seven-year period and restructuring itself with a view to future enlargement to include other members, will be able to forge a new relationship with Canada as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Von der Leyen makes it clear that \u201cthis partnership is not directed against anyone.\u201d But she then adds that \u201cwhat matters today is what a country is prepared to build together with us and the values it stands for in a world characterised by strong headwinds at a geopolitical level\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7874,"featured_media":469801,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25707],"tags":[27175,26024,33777,25927,31856,30996,36454,32480,33394,35960,26104],"class_list":["post-469805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-politics","tag-adesione-en","tag-associazione","tag-canada-en","tag-donald-trump-en","tag-mark-carney-en","tag-membro-associato","tag-trattati","tag-ue","tag-ursula-von-der-leyen","tag-usa-en-2"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469805","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7874"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=469805"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469805\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":469806,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469805\/revisions\/469806"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/469801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=469805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=469805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=469805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}