An EU–Canada Partnership Against Coercion
Sep 28, 2026Alberto Alemanno
By proposing that the European Union and Canada begin work toward an association agreement, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has taken a critical first step toward establishing Europe as a hub for the world’s democratic middle powers. Such an arrangement would enable resistance to US pressure without decoupling from the US.
PARIS—When European Commission President Ursula von der Leyentold Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney that she wants “to work with [him] on opening the door for Canada to be the first associate member of the EU,” she was surely improvising, because no such arrangement had been defined, let alone negotiated. But this is hardly an invalidating criticism, considering that it was improvisation that brought the European Union into being in the first place.