EU-Canada | EU-Canada: We can do things differently

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney addresses the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Thursday. Photo: AP/dpa/ Pascal Bastien The response to Ursula von der Leyen's State of the EU speech was - as expected - muted. The Commission President presented a hodgepodge of half-baked proposals to the European Parliament on Wednesday. What stood out, however, was their offer of "associated" EU membership to Canada, whose Prime Minister Carney was present at the speech and applauded politely - while US President Trump raged in the White House.

The generous offer is of course a purely symbolic act. If only because there is no such associated membership at all - it is a vehicle to bind states to the EU, but not to include them in structures, decisions and obligations. And anyway, the relations between Canada and the EU through the Ceta free trade agreement, but also through various political, military and arms agreements, are so close that pseudo-membership is not necessary.

The idea behind it is easy to understand. For both the EU and Canada, it's about sending a message to Washington: We can do things differently. The head of the EU Commission has repeatedly rejected the US President's wishes for real tariff reductions and was scolded at home for her "deal" with Trump. Canada's Prime Minister also no longer wants to put up with the White House's trade policy escapades and wants to show strength through the partnership. However, no one expects Ottawa to move too close to Brussels. Ultimately, Carney doesn't want to completely close the door on its southern neighbor.

The »nd.Genossenschaft« belongs to the people who make it possible: our readers and authors. They are the ones who ensure left-wing journalism for everyone with their contribution: without profit maximization, media companies or tech billionaires.

→ report independently and critically → make topics visible that would otherwise go unnoticed → make voices heard that are often ignored → counter disinformation with facts → initiate and deepen left-wing debates

“Pay voluntarily” now and support the financing of our solidarity-based newspaper. So that nd remains.