EU backs away from offer to Canada to start ‘associate member’ talks

Watered-down version of statement to be issued at end of Montreal summit instead offers ‘ever closer association’

The EU has backed away from its offer to Canada to start talks on becoming an “associate member” after disagreements between members states just as an EU-Canada summit was set to begin in Montreal.

A draft of a joint statement to be issued after the end of the summit, which runs Thursday and Friday, showed a watered-down version offering “an ever closer association of Canada to the EU, short of full membership itself”.

The issue was triggered after the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, surprised nearly everyone by announcing in last month’s state of the union address that the EU would consider “associate membership” for Canada.