Canada Pitched as the EU's First Associate Member, and an Island Weighs What That Means

Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney used a speech to the European Parliament on Thursday to pitch a "new alliance" with Europe as a bulwark against outside pressures, shrugging off a threat of US retaliation, according to The Local Italy. The same outlet reported that EU chief Ursula von der Leyen had raised the prospect a day earlier of Canada becoming the 27-nation bloc's first "associate member", as she pressed for closer cooperation on technology, defence and energy.

The two items belong to one story. What "associate member" would mean in practice — whether it carries access to the single market, a role in defence procurement, a seat at the table on energy — was not set out in the reporting, and no timetable was given. The proposal is at the stage of a phrase rather than a treaty.

The timing is the substance. The European Union has spent this month negotiating its own internal frictions: nine member states, Italy among them, have further delayed the entry-exit system for third-country travellers at their airports and ports, and Italy and Spain have again extended tit-for-tat border checks in a dispute that began over migration. A bloc advertising a new alliance abroad while re-erecting controls between two of its founding members is the picture the foreign press is drawing.