EUobserver understands that Ursula von der Leyen did not consult EU governments before making the offer to Canada and there is anxiety in some EU capitals that cosying up to Mark Carney could inflame Donald Trump into re-starting his tariff war with Europe.
EU commission president Ursula von der Leyen offered unprecedented ‘associate member’ status of the bloc to Canada on Wednesday. But what could this mean in practice?
Canada’s Carney’s ‘unique alliance’ with the EU? It’s already being builtA pro-EU technocrat, Mark Carney is the sort of politician Brussels loves to do business with.
THIS WEEK: Canada’s Carney attends von der Leyen’s State of the Union, as new talks on Russian frozen assets for Ukraine return to EU agendaEuropean Commission president Ursula von der Leyen will outline her vision for the EU in her annual State of the European Union speech, as Canada’s Mark Carney edges closer to Brussels and away from Washington. Curbs on teenagers’ use of social media and measures to counter hybrid threats are also on this week’s agenda.
“The international order will be rebuilt … out of Europe,” said Canadian prime minister Mark Carney, in a sequel to his Davos speech.
What used to be seen as a half-joking remark is becoming an increasingly serious topic of debate. The Finnish president Alexander Stubb considers Canada a country that could one day become part of the European Union. “I can imagine a much larger EU; whether Canada will be part of it is up to Canada to decide,” Stubb said in Toronto last week.
How realistic would such a move be?
The EU’s defence industry needs to be fully integrated into the bloc’s single market, MEPs said in a new report approved on Wednesday.
![EU trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič outlined how “more than 40 percent of our €51bn in services trade [with canada] is delivered digitally.”](https://static.euobserver.com/2026/03/P-069102_00-10_02-HIGH-285994.jpg)
The commissioned announced Friday, that the EU and Canada have begun to negotiate a so-called ‘Digital Trade Agreement’, with the aim of boosting legal certainty and fair digital trade across the Atlantic.
