Von der Leyen challenges Merz: she maintains that Canada must be a "new associate member"

BrusselsUrsula von der Leyen wants to make it clear that it is she—and not the member states—who holds the reins in the European Union. The day after European capitals, at the initiative of Germany, discarded the label of "new associate member" for the new alliance with Canada, the president of the European Commission has used this term again from the summit being held this Thursday and Friday in Montreal, to reach out once more to Mark Carney.

"Canada cannot become a full member of the EU due to a geographical issue, but we both want to take our relationship to the highest level possible," stated Von der Leyen during a speech at the C.D. Howe Institute in Montreal. "That is why we are debating the idea of Canada becoming the first associate member of the European Union," she insisted.

Von der Leyen first launched the proposal during the start-of-term speech to European institutions this September, in a gesture of outreach to Canada in the face of threats from US President Donald Trump. But some states, including France, Germany, Italy, and Greece, saw the announcement as a pipe dream and had doubts about its legal standing.

For this reason, the fact that the German leader has once again offered Ottawa to become a new "associate member" of the bloc has been read as a challenge, especially towards Berlin, the capital that had questioned the label proposed by the community executive with the most vehemence. In fact, just a few months ago, Chancellor Friedrich Merz had proposed a similar status for Ukraine as a way to provide security guarantees to Kyiv before it joined the bloc fully. This, added to the doubts about how the term might fit into EU treaties, led member states to finally discard the label this Wednesday.

The President of the European Council, António Costa, in the middle of the dispute between the states and the European Commission, has tried to downplay the matter. "I share this ambition," he said in reference to Von der Leyen's initiative, adding: "Whether we use this term or another, one thing is clear: our partnership will be the closest, deepest, and most unique one there is."

Protecting oneself from Trump's unpredictability

Von der Leyen has defended from Montreal, where she will meet with the Canadian Prime Minister this Friday, the "simple idea" she has for Canada: "It is a partnership without accession," she said. It would be a matter of replacing adhesion with "a common ambition and vision." What should it consist of? In the opinion of the head of the EU executive, the alliance must translate into a closer alignment of policies (from energy to AI, through to security), of governance (with more cooperation between the European Commission and the Canadian government and between the two parliaments), and more coordination between programs.

Although she did not make any explicit mention of the United States or Donald Trump, the EU leader recalled that the alliance must serve to protect the interests and independence of both parties in the face of a "profound deterioration of the international order." "The alliances and premises that have guaranteed our prosperity and security are changing," she warned. She also recalled that relationships with a single supplier, "which we previously considered a guarantee of stability," can turn into "instruments of pressure," and she warned that this could have consequences on both sides of the Atlantic.

Thus, picking up the gauntlet from Carney in Davos, when he invited middle powers to unite if they did not want to end up becoming "the menu" for the great powers, she defended partnerships "based on trust and driven by shared interests and convictions." "Sovereignty and independence are no longer just the freedom to act alone. It is the capacity to act together," she asserted.

In line with creating a common space to protect supply chains, Von der Leyen has championed technological sovereignty and announced an agreement on supercomputing to integrate Canada into the European infrastructure and also in the field of AI. Thus, she insisted on the need to reinforce cooperation on rules, standards, and global governance, and highlighted the merger of the German company Aleph Alpha with the Canadian company Cohere to create a sovereign transatlantic AI company.