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Germany is leading a growing push inside the European Union to remove the term "associate membership" from a proposed EU-Canada declaration ahead of the October 29-30 summit in Montreal, with France, Italy, Belgium and several other European countries also reportedly questioning the wording, POLITICO reported on Thursday.
Five EU diplomats identified Berlin as the strongest opponent of retaining the term in the draft declaration. A representative of Germany's permanent mission to the EU declined to comment on the reporting.
The disagreement is about how the relationship is described, not whether it should deepen, POLITICO reported. The draft declaration, discussed by EU ambassadors on Wednesday, would bring the EU-Canada partnership to what European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has called an "Alliance for the Future," built on trust and shared values.
The dispute centers on von der Leyen's decision to propose making Canada the EU's first "associate member" before national governments had agreed on what such a status would actually entail. She floated the idea in a Strasbourg address in mid-September, saying she wanted to take the relationship "to the highest level possible" by moving beyond the existing trade deal, CETA.
Diplomats said some capitals were frustrated by the lack of prior consultation, and that negotiations with Ottawa had begun before the proposed designation had been properly defined. "We've definitely put the cart before the horse," one diplomat told POLITICO. "We're announcing something and then figuring out how to flesh it out."
Bernd Lange, who chairs the European Parliament's trade committee, also advised against the term, warning that it could be confused with existing arrangements such as association agreements.
The Commission intends to work with the skeptical governments on wording they can accept, an EU official told POLITICO, attributing their reservations to uncertainty over the proposal's practical substance. "What matters is what we do, not what we call it," the official said.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has welcomed the push for a stronger partnership but has sidestepped the "associate membership" label, preferring to talk about an "Alliance for the Future" and stressing that substance matters more than the title. "We are not looking to become a member," he has said of the European Union.
Whether the term survives in the final text is an open question, according to POLITICO. The latest draft uses "associate membership" interchangeably with "Alliance for the Future," and the full scope of Canada's status would be defined by the 2027 Canada-EU summit.
The summit in Montreal next week is the first major political opportunity to give the partnership substance: closer cooperation on trade, defense, technology, energy, critical minerals and artificial intelligence, as both sides look to reduce their economic reliance on the United States under President Donald Trump's trade policies. Trump has suggested that allowing Canada to become an associate EU member could be a "hostile act" and has threatened more trade restrictions on the bloc in response.