Canada and the EU Forge a Historic Alliance, Opening the Path to the Union's First Associate Member

Canada has taken its first formal step towards a status the European Union has never offered any country. On 30th October, at the close of a two-day summit in Montreal, Prime Minister Mark Carney, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa launched the Alliance for the Future, a partnership that builds on the free trade agreement between Canada and the EU and extends it into technology, energy, education and security.

The joint declaration commits both sides to an 'ever closer association', with its full scope to be defined at the Canada-EU summit in 2027. At the closing press conference Carney set out where that path leads: the deepest possible partnership short of accession, with Canada becoming the EU's first associate member, according to the Associated Press. Canadian Cabinet ministers and European commissioners will meet in March to advance the negotiations, and Carney plans to attend the European Council in June 2027 to conclude them.

From a speech in Strasbourg to a summit in Montreal

Von der Leyen made the offer on 16th September in her State of the Union address to the European Parliament, with Carney in the chamber as her guest. Speaking to him directly, she said she would like to work on 'opening the door for Canada being the first associate member of the EU', the AP reported.

The offer has no precedent. The EU has Association Agreements with more than 20 countries, but no treaty has ever created an associate member, which makes Canada the first country to be offered a place this close to the Union without joining it.

By the time EU leaders arrived in Montreal, Canada already had closer ties to Europe than any other country outside the continent. Earlier this year it became the first non-European country to join SAFE, the EU's €150 billion programme for joint defence purchasing, giving Canadian companies access to European procurement. The two sides have also traded under CETA, their free trade agreement, since 2017.

Digital trade, critical minerals and a supercomputer: what Montreal delivered

The summit produced concrete agreements alongside the declaration. Canada and the EU concluded substantive negotiations on a digital trade agreement and on a competition agreement. The European Investment Bank and Canada finished negotiating a deal to encourage European investment in Canadian critical minerals, the raw materials behind electric vehicles and defence equipment.

Canada will join a European supercomputing initiative, and Carney said the JUPITER supercomputer in Germany can complete in a single day calculations that take Canada's most powerful research machine six months. The two sides will also study the feasibility of exporting Canadian liquefied natural gas to Europe and look at new undersea cables connecting Canada, Europe and Asia.

Cheaper transfers, wider study options and easier online trade: what the alliance means for you

For the 450 million people of the EU and the 41 million people of Canada, the alliance reaches well beyond diplomacy.

If you are a student or a young professional, the Atlantic is set to become easier to cross. Canada and the EU will begin negotiations on expanding Canadian participation in Erasmus+, the European student exchange programme, and will work on ways to make it simpler for young people to study and work on either side of the ocean.

If you send money between Canada and Europe, to family, to a business partner or to cover a semester abroad, your transfers could become faster and cheaper. Both sides will explore linking their instant payment systems.

If you run a business or sell online, the digital trade agreement will make it easier to reach customers across the Atlantic and to move data between Canada and Europe. Carney said it will help Canadian businesses sell goods online in Europe. The competition agreement targets anti-competitive practices, with the stated aim of lowering prices for consumers.

If you work in science or research, Canadian access to European supercomputing means calculations that once took months can be done in a day, and more room for shared projects with colleagues across the Atlantic.

Your security is part of the agreement too. The leaders agreed a new border security arrangement and pledged closer cooperation on cybersecurity, Arctic security and countering foreign interference.

The closest relationship the EU has ever built outside its borders

Costa said the alliance would be the closest relationship the EU has ever established with a country outside the bloc, and that no country outside Europe is more European than Canada. Von der Leyen said a country's values and its stance in world affairs count for more than its position on a map, and that her goal is a relationship with Canada as close as it can possibly be.

Carney described the alliance as a question of sovereignty: the freedom of Canadians and Europeans to live as they choose and to withstand economic shocks together. The partnership is also designed to grow. The Alliance for the Future could in time welcome other like-minded countries, with Canada and the EU at its core.

Three dates to watch

Ministers and commissioners meet in March. Carney attends the European Council in June 2027 with the aim of closing negotiations. The 2027 Canada-EU summit will then define the full scope of the association, and with it the shape of the first partnership of its kind in the history of the European Union.