by Eddy Wax, Nicoletta Ionta
Germany has secured new, draft wording offering Canada “ever closer association of Canada to the EU, short of full membership itself” as summit looms in Montreal on Friday.
If agreed by the 26 other EU governments – and Canada – Berlin would be able to claim victory after resisting calls for an unprecedented ‘associate member’ status for Canada.
The draft statement, seen by Rapporteur, commits the EU and Canada “to define by the 2027 EU-Canada Summit the concept of an ever-closer association of Canada to the EU, short of full membership itself”.
Ursula von der Leyen staked a lot of political capital on the new relationship concept in a speech in September and her European Commission has been pressing for the name to feature heavily at the summit in Montreal.
EU leaders and Mark Carney, the Canadian prime minister, will sign a statement on Friday.
The EU has, according to the draft, signed Canada up to financially supporting Ukraine as European governments discuss a new loan on top of an existing €90 billion support package.
“We welcome Canada’s intention to join the Ukraine support loan,” said the text.
Multiple diplomats said Germany’s reluctance to endorse the new relationship status outright was because of its own failed move to grant Ukraine the same status.
Germany, diplomats said, believes von der Leyen’s proposal confuses the debate about enlarging the EU to the east by using the term ‘member’ for a looser relationship at a time when the EU is negotiating full accession with countries such as Ukraine.
“If they have a substantive reason – economic impact, politically sensitive, domestically difficult – for rejecting this term, that has not been communicated,” said an EU official.
Germany’s permanent representation has been contacted for comment.
*Published first on Rapporteur
By: N. Peter Kramer
