Watered-down version of statement to be issued at end of Montreal summit instead offers ‘ever closer association’

The EU has backed away from its offer to Canada to start talks on becoming an “associate member” after disagreements between member states just as an EU-Canada summit was set to begin in Montreal.

A draft of a joint statement to be issued after the end of the summit, which runs Thursday and Friday, showed a watered-down version offering “an ever closer association of Canada to the EU, short of full membership itself”.

Die Kommissionspräsidentin will Kanada zum „assoziierten Mitglied“ der Europäischen Union machen. Um diese Formulierung tobt in der EU ein Streit. Auch die deutsche Regierung ist sauer.

Friedrich Merz lässt die innenpolitischen Turbulenzen hinter sich und begibt sich auf seine bislang längste Dienstreise. In Singapur, Japan und Südkorea geht es um die Frage: Wie viel von der alten Weltordnung ist noch zu retten?

Voters’ emphatic rejection of separation strengthens Mark Carney’s energy strategy in the face of a US trade war and threats

Canadians are proving to be a voice of sanity. In roundly rejecting the idea of separating from Canada, voters in the oil- and gas-rich province of Alberta sensibly backed the nation-building strategy of the prime minister, Mark Carney. He has put Alberta at the centre of his plan to make Canada an energy superpower that is “much less dependent on the United States”.

Donald Trump’s trade war and threats last week to make Canada the 51st US state were a fillip for Mr Carney in Alberta, a landlocked western province where Liberal prime ministers have historically been unpopular. The stakes were high: a successful separatist campaign would have handed Mr Trump leverage over Canada’s resource belt. The result instead lets Mr Carney cast Alberta’s mineral wealth as a national asset, rather than allow separatists to define it as a regional grievance.

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Result is a victory for prime minister Mark Carney and supporters of Canadian unity

Voters in Canada’s Alberta have overwhelmingly rejected a proposal to begin the process of independence, delivering a decisive victory for supporters of Canadian unity and deepening divisions within the separatist movement.

With nearly 1.9m votes counted, roughly 76% people supported remaining in Canada, while 24% backed beginning a process toward separation, according to unofficial results from Elections Alberta.

Das Ergebnis gilt als wichtiger Erfolg für Premierminister Mark Carney. Grund für das unverbindliche Referendum waren vor allem wirtschaftliche Fragen.

Alberta stimmt am Montag darüber ab, ob es sich von Kanada loslöst. Ähnliches könnte bald in einer weiteren Provinz drohen. Und das ausgerechnet jetzt, wo Premier Carney Geschlossenheit gegenüber den USA so dringend bräuchte.

Albertas Premierministerin Danielle Smith zufolge befinden sich mindestens 19 Menschen weiter in Lebensgefahr. Kanadas Premier Carney spricht von einer der „schlimmsten Tragödien“ für die Armee in Friedenszeiten.

Prime minister Mark Carney describes blaze as ‘one of the worst tragedies for the forces on Canadian soil in peacetime’

Four people have been killed and dozens more seriously injured after a “violent, fast-moving” fire tore through one of Canada’s busiest military training bases in Alberta, the country’s prime minister said on Sunday.

Mark Carney called the incident “one of the worst tragedies for the forces on Canadian soil in peacetime”.

Parti Québécois wins provincial election but will not be able to govern alone, as Mark Carney stresses unity in face of tariffs threat from Donald Trump

The separatist Parti Québécois (PQ) won Quebec’s provincial election on Monday but fell short of enough seats to govern alone, returning to power with a promise to hold another referendum on independence from Canada.

The result returns Paul St-Pierre Plamondon’s party to power for the first time in more than a decade but denies it the majority it sought, forcing the separatists to rely on opposition parties even as they try to revive Quebec’s independence debate.

While Brussels and Ottawa desire a deeper partnership born of Trump-era volatility, ​the EU has no legal framework to accommodate it

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The EU and Canada, Ursula von der Leyen said last week, “see the world with the same eyes”, with shared stances on everything from AI to the climate crisis, the Ukraine war and the unholy chaos unleashed by the current occupant of the White House (OK, she didn’t actually say that last bit. But I like to think she almost certainly thought it.)

So, the European Commission president went on, Canada should become “the first associate member of the EU”. In the audience, Mark Carney beamed with delight. The next day, Canada’s prime minister enthusiastically embraced the idea of an “alliance for the future”, to build “collective resilience” through “deep cooperation”.

Two leaders meet in French territory off Canada as Ottawa seeks stronger relations with EU while fighting trade war with US

The leaders of France and Canada have pledged closer ties to grapple with rising geopolitical tensions, climate change and the erosion of democratic values, after ⁠they met in a ⁠French territory off Canada’s Atlantic coast.

The two leaders’ visit to Saint-Pierre ​and Miquelon – the first by a French president since 2014 and the first by a Canadian prime minister – came just weeks ⁠after Donald Trump posted an image showing the islands, as well as all of Canada and other countries in North America, covered by the US flag.

„Wir begrüßen diesen Vorstoß“, sagt der kanadische Premierminister in einer Rede vor dem Europäischen Parlament. Die EU und Kanada würden eine Verbindung teilen, die historisch „tiefe Wurzeln“ habe.

Although Mark Carney welcomed offer to become bloc’s first associate member, no one seems to know what that means

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Mark Carney received a rapturous reception in the European parliament when he gave his speech on Thursday welcoming a proposal for Canada to become the EU’s first-ever associate member.

Politicians queued to shake his hand and take selfies. One described the speech as a historic moment. “Europe has extended a hand, and Canada has taken it,” said the German Green MEP Terry Reintke, who borrowed a Canadian ice hockey shirt for the occasion.

Mark Carney’s response to the challenges posed by an unreliable US president contains a clarity of vision that is lacking in post-Brexit Britain

There is no “associate membership” of the European Union, nor any blueprint for what such a thing might involve. It is a political hypothesis, describing a relationship of intimate strategic alignment with the EU, stopping short of actual membership, in ways that are significant but undefined.

This week, Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, invited Canada to be the first country to enjoy this putative status. In her state of the union speech, she spoke of a future relationship elevated “to the highest level possible”, reflecting an affinity of interests and values. Mark Carney, the Canadian prime minister, reciprocated the sentiment in a speech on Wednesday. Addressing the European parliament, he said the two sides should secure “strategic autonomy through deep cooperation” across a broad spectrum of interests: trade, defence, industrial capacity, science, space and AI. He proposed Canadian participation in the EU’s Erasmus student exchange programme and Horizon research scheme.

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After Trump describes the tie-up as ‘laughable’, PM says majority of Canadians support closer ties with bloc

Mark Carney has welcomed the goal of Canada becoming the EU’s first associate member, calling for “deep cooperation” between Europe and his country to secure their sovereignty, after Donald Trump derided the idea as “laughable”.

In an address to the European parliament in Strasbourg, the Canadian prime minister said polling showed that an overwhelming majority of Canadians supported much closer ties with Europe. “Canada welcomes this idea,” he said, referring to European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen’s pitch that Canada should become the EU’s first associate member.

„Wir begrüßen diesen Vorstoß“, sagt der kanadische Premierminister in einer Rede vor dem Europäischen Parlament. Die EU und Kanada würden eine Verbindung teilen, die historisch „tiefe Wurzeln“ habe.

Beyond the morale boost and Mark Carney’s stardust, ‘associate membership’ means little

Ursula von der Leyen brought a new mascot to her annual State of the Union address to the European parliament: the Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney.

The leader of a plucky, like-minded liberal democracy, locked in an unsought trade war with its much bigger bully of a neighbour, Carney crossed the Atlantic and attended this flagship event of Europe’s political calendar to demonstrate his country’s shared values and desire to get closer to the EU. He was rewarded with a standing ovation and the first ever offer of an (invented) status of “associate member” of the EU.

Paul Taylor is a senior visiting fellow at the European Policy Centre

Official results confirmed that his right-leaning bloc lost last Sunday’s parliamentary election

Meanwhile, we are getting some interesting lines from Paris that the French president, Emmanuel Macron, convened the chiefs ⁠of ⁠the ​different political parties to discuss the ​crises ‌in ‌the Middle East ‌and Ukraine and their consequences on the energy market.

The meeting will ‌be held on Friday morning at 10:30am local time on Thursday (that’s 9:30am UK) and military and intelligence officers will share ⁠the information they have ​provided to ​Macron, his ​office said ​in ‌a ​statement.

Government sources say legislation aimed at China poses a risk to British businesses and must be addressed

The UK government’s EU reset summit will be delayed again unless the bloc agrees to discuss legislation that could lock British business out of parts of EU industry, government sources have said.

The “Made in Europe” legislation – formally known as the Industrial Accelerator Act – is designed to curb China’s increasing presence in European industry, but was not on the reset plan agreed by the former prime minister Keir Starmer and the European Commission chief, Ursula von der Leyen, in London in May 2025.