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Carney asks the European Union to give Canada associate membership
September 18, 2026
Mark Carney is pursuing associate membership in the European Union for Canada, a status that does not currently exist and would need approval from all 27 member states.
Mark Carney became Canada's prime minister in March 2025 after serving as governor of the Bank of England, and Canada and the EU have traded under the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement since 2017.
Key facts
- Goods and services traded between the two sides came to €130.8 billion, or $151 billion, over the past year, a rise of more than 80% across the past ten years, figures from the European Commission show.
- Trade between the two partners is already substantial and has climbed steadily since much of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between the EU and Canada took effect in 2017.
- Carney once ran the Bank of England and built a network across Europe during his banking career, and since taking office as prime minister in March 2025 he has tended his links with European leaders who think as he does.
- Abacus Data, a polling firm in Canada, found earlier this month that roughly 80% of Canadians want deeper work with the bloc on defense, economic priorities and foreign policy, six points above the level recorded when the question was last put in February.
CNN reports that Carney wants a far tighter bond with the European Union, quoting him on a “unique alliance with the European Union.” Lawmakers gave him a standing ovation when von der Leyen spoke, and he speaks to European lawmakers Thursday. BBC reports that Erasmus+, the EU scholarship programme, sits inside what Carney has sketched, and that the bloc holds no associate member category today; inventing one would need all 27 member governments to sign off and could run for years. Reuters sets out how far the partnership can realistically go after a symbolic overture to Carney. Berlin, CNN reports, has queried whether associate member is even the right label, while its spokesperson keeps the door open to fresh partnership models.
Appetite at home runs strong and stops short of full membership. Polling by Abacus Data, CNN reports, puts backing for deeper work with the EU on defense, economic priorities and foreign policy at about 80%, six points above the February reading, while 49% would go as far as membership and 56% feel more kinship with Europe's countries than with their southern neighbour. BBC reports the same temper among people it talked with in Toronto. Adam Chambers, who represents Ontario's Simcoe North in Parliament, told the broadcaster, “It could be a concrete, meaningful proposal. Or it could be just words and vibes.” Tinatin Akhvlediani, whose field at the Brussels-based Center for European Policy Studies is EU enlargement, told CNN, “Associate membership does not exist,” and pointed to the association agreements Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine hold, which demand that national law be lined up with the bloc's own.
Trade is the solid part. In the most recent year, goods and services moving both ways came to €130.8 billion ($151 billion), CNN reports, citing the European Commission, and growth across the decade tops 80%, with machinery, pharmaceuticals and cars leading EU sales into Canada. The New York Times reports the same swing toward Europe under pressure from Washington, and politico.com reports that Canadian membership is a long shot Trump publicly dismissed anyway. One account carries Trump's push for Canada to sit inside the US as a state, an idea Carney firmly rejected; other accounts of the same week leave it out. Carney's drive for closer EU ties, the polling numbers and the absence of any associate member category hold across the coverage. What the proposal would actually contain does not.
“I grew up here. I've been here 40 years in Canada, in Ontario, and America's always been the neighbour,” Ahmed Khalil said.
Ahmed Khalil
Still developing
The open question is Trump's idea of Canada joining the US, where the accounts hold it differently.
How settled the reporting is
Sources
- BBC — Canadians dream of Europe as Carney floats longshot plan for living and working in EU
- CNN — Canada is pursuing a ‘unique alliance’ with the EU as US ties remain fraught. Here’s what we know
- politico.com — Canada might not join the EU. Why Trump slapped down the idea anyway
Toggle read the full reports of 2 of the 5 outlets counted on this event. The other 3 are counted from their headlines and opening sentences.