A European alliance with more ambition than definition

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What to call it? Just a few days ago, on Sunday, Mark Carney rebuffed reports that Canada was seeking to become an associate member of the European Union, saying he wasn’t looking for membership but rather a “unique alliance.”

But on Wednesday, he was front-row, seat one, at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen used her State of the Union speech to invite Canada to become the first-ever associate member of the European Union. The Prime Minister stood up to embrace her.

It was a big, bold call for a new trans-Atlantic relationship. The difference over the name was a sign that it still has more ambition than definition.

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Both Mr. Carney and Ms. von der Leyen wanted those symbols of ambition.

The European Commission President framed it as a response to a “fracture” in the global system. She said that Europe’s interest in an expanded alliance with Canada wasn’t “against” anyone – but it’s obvious that for both leaders it was a reaction to U.S. President Donald Trump’s shaking of the old order. Both, especially Mr. Carney, want to send a message that they still have like-minded countries to work with.

Ms. von der Leyen referred to the idea as a proposal to create “a common prosperity and economic security space.”

“We will work on intelligent manufacturing. We will create a tech alliance. We will integrate defence industrial bases. We will make the Arctic a flagship joint project. We will work on energy, critical minerals and batteries. On AI, quantum, cyber and economic security.”

But associate membership? Earlier in the week Mr. Carney was trying to steer clear of suggestion that Canada is in some way joining the EU, which comes with bloc-wide trade policy and harmonized regulations.

Mr. Carney has aggressively courted a closer relationship with Europe, but he has also responded to Mr. Trump’s trade war by emphasizing the preservation of Canada’s sovereignty. Associate member was a phrase Canadian officials weren’t using on Wednesday. They preferred to note that Ms. von der Leyen also called it an alliance for the future.

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For that matter, the European Commission President’s associate member label didn’t sit well with some of the member nations: A spokesman for German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said the term – never used even for closely linked non-members such as Norway – should be reconsidered. European parliamentarians applauded co-operation Wednesday, but the EU might well eventually opt for something more modestly packaged.

Canada’s ambassador designate to the EU, Jonathan Wilkinson, insisted the name doesn’t matter until you define what it is.

And defining it isn’t easy.

Mr. Carney has pushed for bold moves toward closer ties. But some European diplomats have told The Globe and Mail they weren’t sure what more could be done that will live up to the billing.

Canada already has a decade-old trade agreement with the European Union, although 10 of the 27 EU countries have yet to ratify it, so parts of the agreement are not in effect in those countries. Defence co-operation happens through the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Mr. Carney already signed a slew of agreements with the EU last year.

The next steps will have to be more continuation than revolution, said Achim Hurrelmann, a Carleton University professor and the co-director of the Centre for European Studies.

“I really think the reasons why they are playing up this new level of partnership so much is primarily symbolic,” said he said. “I see no legal need for a new level of partnership, and no real institutional blueprint for what it could look like.”

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There are areas for initiatives. Both have an interest in co-operating on artificial intelligence and data sovereignty to ensure the United States doesn’t monopolize control of the technology, as well as on agreements to secure supply chains for critical minerals.

But then some of the dreams of what might come in a new alliance – such as visa-free mobility between Canada and Europe – will be more modest in reality.

Visitors can already travel visa-free and there are underused student exchange and youth mobility programs. Canada isn’t going to open unchecked immigration to 450 million Europeans and the EU, already seeing the rise of far-right anti-migrant parties, won’t do the same for Canadians. The two sides are more likely to expand youth and educational exchanges and mobility agreements for professionals.

Those would still be substantive measures. More are slated be hammered out by the time of a Canada-EU summit in October. In the meantime, there are new, big, symbolic ambitions for an undefined arrangement that still can’t speak its name.