Canada is expected to be promised ‘ever-closer association’ with the EU at a summit later this week Joe is based in Brussels, where he focuses on European politics and defence. He has covered the Ukraine war and its peace negotiations and reported on US elections from Washington DC 6:36pm GMT Germany has blocked a plan to grant Canada associate membership of the European Union.

Instead, the North American country is expected to be promised “ever-closer association” with the bloc at a summit later this week, according to a draft statement seen by The Telegraph.

Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission’s president, had originally pitched the idea of “associate membership” for Canada at her annual state of the union address.

The top Eurocrat’s offer came with few details, leaving the bloc’s member states puzzled about what it could entail.

In a series of behind-closed-doors meetings, the EU’s 27 capitals set to work expanding on Mrs von der Leyen’s proposal before an announcement at meetings in Montreal on Thursday and Friday.

Mark Carney, Canada’s prime minister, has called for the world’s ‘middle powers’ to unite against rogue strongmen, such as Donald Trump An earlier draft of the statement said the bloc and Canada would work together to define a concept of “associate membership” before a follow-up summit in 2027.

But the latest version of the announcement stops short, saying: “We will… work 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.”For Germany ‘it was personal’Germany was said to have been the main driving force behind the change, because its similar proposal for Ukraine was rejected by member states.

“Friedrich Merz floated associate membership for Ukraine, which died immediately,” an EU diplomat told The Telegraph. “I think for them it was personal.”France, Greece and Italy also voiced reservations about extending the offer to Canada.

But while the language may have been watered down, the ambitions for the EU’s partnership with Ottawa has not been diminished.

It will cover defence, security, critical minerals, energy and financial services to create what the EU describes as a “common prosperity and economic security space”.

Many European leaders have viewed Mark Carney, the Canadian prime minister, favourably since he delivered a speech at the Davos summit calling for the world’s “middle powers” to unite and protect themselves from rogue strongmen, such as Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping.

European officials working on talks to reset relations with Britain believe much of the Canada statement will be repurposed for a summit between London and Brussels in late November.

Officials inside the commission, which negotiates Brexit on behalf of the bloc, now believe that any generous, but vague, offer to Canada can be used as a “strategic lever” to extort concessions from Britain.

There is a growing belief that Andy Burnham’s flirtations with rejoining the EU are because Whitehall is concerned that economically useful terms will be offered to Canada and not the UK.