总理马克·卡尼公布了一个时间表：如果一切顺利，加拿大将在未来七个月内与欧盟签署一项新的伙伴关系协议。
Prime Minister Mark Carney has laid out a timeline that would see Canada sign an agreement on a new partnership with the European Union in the next seven months, if all goes well.
卡尼周五表示，渥太华与布鲁塞尔正在致力于达成“除加入欧盟外可能达成的最深层伙伴关系”，使加拿大成为“欧盟第一个准成员”。他说，未来几个月，双方将举行会晤，以“确定这种新成员形式的具体内容、规模和范围”。
Carney said Friday that Ottawa and Brussels are working toward the “deepest possible partnership short of accession” that would see Canada become “the European Union’s first associate member.”He said in the coming months, the two sides will meet to “determine the full substance, scale and scope of this new form of membership.”
欧盟委员会主席乌尔苏拉·冯德莱恩上个月在法国斯特拉斯堡倡导了准成员资格的构想。她周五表示，她相信能与加拿大建立一种“比我们以往任何合作都更接近成员资格”的伙伴关系。尽管欧盟高层官员对与加拿大加强关系热情高涨，但谈判未必会一帆风顺。欧盟内部在这一想法上远未形成政治共识。
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, championed the idea of associate membership in Strasbourg, France, last month. On Friday, she said she believes in building a partnership with Canada that “comes closer to membership than anything we’ve done before.”Even though top EU officials are enthusiastic about closer ties with Canada, the talks won’t necessarily be a walk in the park. The European Union is far from politically united on the idea.
卡尔顿大学欧洲研究中心联席主任阿希姆·胡雷尔曼表示，就这一地位进行谈判可能会很困难，尤其是在短期内。
Achim Hurrelmann, co-director of the Centre for European Studies at Carleton University, said it could prove difficult to negotiate that status, especially in the short term.
“我不确定短期内能否为加拿大确立一个名为‘准成员’的地位。”他说。
“I’m not sure if a status with that name can be established for Canada any time soon,” he said.
冯德莱恩和卡尼似乎已决定继续推进使用这一术语，并利用加欧关系双方现有的势头将其变为现实。但在欧盟内部，这往往相当困难，因为一旦所有成员国都介入其中——我们在谈判峰会宣言时就看到了这一点——这个实体只能非常缓慢地行动。
“It seems that von der Leyen and Carney have decided to just press ahead with the use of this term and use the momentum that’s there on both sides for Canada-EU relations to make this a reality. But in the EU, that often can be quite difficult because once all of the member states get involved — we saw that in negotiating the summit declaration — then the entity is able to move only very slowly.”Carney and EU officials met for a summit in Montreal on Thursday and Friday, where they agreed on a joint statement promoting what they called a “Canada-EU Alliance for the Future.”
卡尼和欧盟官员周四和周五在蒙特利尔举行峰会，双方同意了一份联合声明，推动他们所谓的“加欧未来联盟”。
The joint statement commits the two sides to working 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.”
联合声明承诺双方致力于“在2027年欧加峰会前界定加拿大与欧盟日益紧密联系的概念，但不包括完全成员资格本身。” 这27个成员国的集团最终决定不在联合声明中包含“准成员”这一术语。德国等国对该措辞提出了一些反对意见，它们认为这将成为乌克兰等国获得永久成员资格的垫脚石。
Get daily National news The 27-member bloc ultimately opted against including the term “associate member” in the joint statement. The phrase has seen some pushback from countries like Germany, which see it as a stepping-stone to permanent membership for countries like Ukraine. EU debates are always complicated matters.
欧盟的辩论向来错综复杂。未来几个月，主要欧洲国家将举行选举，这可能会改变这些谈判的性质。
In the coming months, major European countries will go to the polls for elections that could shake up the nature of those talks. Spain’s general election is set for Nov. 29 and the French presidential elections go ahead in April.
西班牙大选定于11月29日举行，法国大选将于4月进行。波兰也将于明年11月11日举行议会选举。
Poland will also go to the polls next year for parliamentary elections on Nov. 11. Hurrelmann said the main challenge remains a lack of clarity on the term “associate membership” in Europe.
胡雷尔曼表示，主要挑战依然是欧洲对“准成员资格”这一术语缺乏清晰定义。他指出，加拿大官员本周使用的措辞是他见过的加方对“准成员资格”最强烈的拥抱。
He noted the language used by Canadian officials this week has been the “strongest embrace of associate membership” he’s seen by the Canadian side. “It’s very clear that even if it’s associate membership … that it’s not just some kind of occasional political agreement, but something quite fundamental,” he said.
“即使是准成员身份……也绝非某种偶然的政治协议，而是相当根本性的东西，”他说。“所以我认为，成员国肯定会坚持自己对此发表意见的权利。”卡尼周五表示，他将定期与欧盟领导人会面，以跟进进展，加拿大联邦内阁将于3月在加拿大与欧洲内阁举行会晤。
“So I think the member states definitely will insist on their right to be heard on that.”Carney said Friday he will meet with the EU presidents periodically to track progress, and Canada’s federal cabinet will meet in March with European cabinets in Canada. The prime minister will then attend the European Council meetings in June, where the aim is to conclude negotiations.
随后，该总理将出席6月的欧洲理事会会议，会议目标是完成谈判。欧盟成员国必须批准达成的协议，该协议还将提交加拿大下议院表决。
EU members would have to approve the resulting agreement, which would be put to a vote in the House of Commons as well. Carney has said he’s not married to the term “associate member” and is more concerned about the outcomes from closer economic and defence ties.
卡尼表示，他并不执着于“准成员”这一术语，更关注的是加强经济和国防关系所带来的成果。
“There is a case for an enhanced partnership status,” said Hurrelmann.
“加强伙伴关系地位是有道理的，”胡雷尔曼说。“也许找到一个不同的标签最终就能奏效，但这仍有待观察。”周五签署的联合声明呼吁加强工业合作和供应链整合，并列举了各种联合项目。计划成立一个新的加拿大-欧盟商业理事会。
“Maybe finding a different label will eventually do the trick, but that remains to be seen.”The joint statement signed Friday calls for more industrial collaboration and supply chain integration and cites various joint projects. There are plans to create a new Canada-EU business council. The Prime Minister’s Office said Canada and the European Union will in the coming months take their first steps toward a new transatlantic data cable and study how to increase liquefied natural gas exports to the European market.
加拿大总理办公室表示，加拿大和欧盟将在未来几个月迈出建立新跨大西洋数据电缆的第一步，并研究如何增加向欧洲市场出口液化天然气。
— With files from Dylan Robertson