Experts Urge Canada to Lock In EU Gains as 'Associate Member' Talk Fuels Confusion

Academics who study European Union relations say Canada should lock in its recent gains with the bloc through legal frameworks, particularly as talk of becoming an EU "associate member" keeps causing confusion. The experts testified Monday to the House foreign affairs committee, days after a summit in Montreal last week brought together top Canadian and EU officials.

Officials at the summit praised the plan as a historic partnership, but the witnesses were less enthusiastic. "A lot of these agreements are essentially expressions of intent," University of Toronto professor Mark Manger testified. "I'm still waiting for a concrete announcement." Manger argued Mexico already has many of the arrangements with the EU that Canada is now gaining or seeking.

The testimony followed weeks of confusion over nomenclature. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has pitched Canada becoming an associate member, a concept she raised in September. Prime Minister Mark Carney largely avoided that phrasing afterward, instead speaking of an "alliance for the future," but on Thursday he said the goal was associate EU membership, a term with no official definition.

Achim Hurrelmann, co-director of the Centre for European Studies at Carleton University, called the phrasing "a bit of a distraction from the policy work leading up to the summit," mainly because the bloc had not done its homework on what the status would mean or how it could fit into EU law. Still, he said both leaders are "keen to maintain" the buzz. "I don't think they are really fully attached to the concept of associate membership, but stick to it now because it brings this symbolic attention. Everyone's talking about this," he testified.

Hurrelmann said both sides will need an arrangement somewhere between a mere political declaration and formal status, which would require complicated amendments to EU treaties and votes in the Canadian Parliament. "The proposals that we have heard do not require associate membership at all to be realized," he said, likening the phrase to the "symbolic affirmation" of moving from a common-law relationship to marriage.

Anand Sundar, a transatlantic defence adviser at the European Council on Foreign Relations, testified that associate membership seems to be something Brussels is pushing despite strong objection from countries such as Germany. "It's a very political sort of game that we're seeing," he said. "This might be something in interest of the [European] Commission, but not of certain member states."

Hurrelmann said officials may need to move fast, as MPs raised concerns about rising far-right movements across Europe that are skeptical of partnering with other countries. "It's going to be important to ask how quickly can this agreement be put fully in legal force on the European side," he said.

He also urged Ottawa to consider restructuring the Canada-EU trade deal to boost economic gains, particularly by changing its status from a "mixed agreement" that requires individual ratification by each member state. Nine of the bloc's 27 members still have not put the decade-old Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement into full force. Canadians chafe at food regulations that bar many Canadian imports, while Europeans complain about Canada's dairy quota and protected-origin phrasing, such as whether feta cheese can come from outside a specific region of Greece.

Manger suggested enhancing the existing deal with "economic and legal parameters" to boost exports and investment, saying international agreements should lock in a trade relationship and make clear to Canadian firms "that this is a long-term relationship." He floated allowing European mobile networks to set up shop in Canada in exchange for Europe dropping restrictions on Canadian food imports. Hurrelmann suggested focusing on areas where the EU has clear jurisdiction, such as research and academic exchanges, while working directly with member countries on issues such as defence and energy.

Hurrelmann added that closer ties to Europe will only work with cross-party collaboration. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre argues the government has not been clear on its deals with Europe, that the Montreal summit was a waste of time meant to distract from domestic issues and that Canada risks losing sovereignty to Europe and control of its borders.