A ‘unique alliance’ or ‘associate membership’; either way Canadian prime minister Mark Carney wants the cosiest of relationships with the European Union.
Carney is due to attend Ursula von der Leyen’s ‘State of the Union’ address in Strasbourg on Wednesday (16 September). He told reporters in Toronto before travelling that he wants to start talks on a privileged partnership.
In truth, the idea of Canada as the EU’s 28th state is as fanciful as it becoming the 51st US state, but a close relationship – perhaps closer even than between the UK and EU – makes a lot of sense politically.
A middle-ranking power with the US to its south and China to its west, Canada has some of the raw materials that the EU needs.
Yet Carney’s remarks are not revolutionary. The talks he mentioned have already started.
