Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney (left) during European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's State of the European Union address at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, on September 16, 2026.

Ahead of the European Union-Canada summit on Thursday, October 29 and Friday, October 30, in Montreal, European diplomats are caught up in a strange dispute. On substance, there is consensus: Nine months after Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's widely praised speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, everyone agrees on the need to strengthen ties among nations sharing similar values, especially in the face of the United States, China and Russia, which have disregarded international norms. "Middle powers must act together because if we're not at the table, we're on the menu," Carney warned in January.

But there is disagreement over form. In her State of the Union address in Strasbourg on September 16, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed that Canada become an "associate member" of the EU without first consulting member states on a status that doesn't exist and whose implications no one is sure about. Both Paris and Berlin were displeased.

"I'm not aware that we were consulted. That was not in the draft of her speech she sent us [before reading it in Strasbourg]," said a person close to the Elysée. "No one disputes the desire to deepen ties with Canada, but inventing a concept we've never heard of – associate member status – raises a lot of concerns. Why not offer it to South Korea as well?"