By Julia Payne
BRUSSELS, Sept 16 (Reuters) - European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday she wanted to open the door to Canada becoming the EU's first "associate member," in a significant policy shift alongside plans to forge new links in "an openly hostile world".
EU lawmakers gave her a standing ovation after she made the proposal and then walked over to embrace Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney, who was in the European Parliament in Strasbourg to hear her address.
"I said we must urgently reimagine our partnerships. So, I would like to work with you on opening the door for Canada to be the first associate member of the EU," von der Leyen said.
'EUROPE AND CANADA BELIEVE IN DEMOCRACY'
The EU and Canada "see the world with the same eyes: from AI to climate change, from the Arctic to geopolitics. And we have stood together: on Ukraine, on defence, on raw materials and on supply chains," von der Leyen told the assembly.
"But above all ... Europe and Canada believe in democracy," she added.
New partnerships were needed "in the cold fragility of today’s world," she said.
The 27-nation bloc faces war at its borders, with Russia's invasion of Ukraine. On trade and other issues, it is also facing stiff rivalry from the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump and from an increasingly assertive China.
It will be up to EU member states whether von der Leyen's proposal goes ahead.
The EU has historically resisted such types of flexible alliances that have no legal status. EU members were lukewarm in reacting to Germany's proposal in May of associate membership for Ukraine as a stepping stone to full accession.
One EU diplomat expressed surprise at von der Leyen's proposal on Wednesday, saying "nobody really knows what it means." The diplomat added there were concerns that the European Commission chief "is overpromising and won't be able to deliver."
And significant obstacles remain to ramping up trade. Mark Manger, a professor of political economy and global affairs at the University of Toronto, said EU officials have been frustrated by Canada’s refusal to open two industries it protects at great expense: telecommunications and dairy.
'UNIQUE ALLIANCE'
Canada's Carney was warmly applauded by EU lawmakers as he arrived in parliament.
He said earlier this week Canada was seeking a "unique alliance" with the EU but not membership. He will make his own address to the European Parliament on Thursday.
Carney's European trip follows a historic breakdown in Canada-U.S. relations after trade talks collapsed last month, sparking a series of tit-for-tat tariff measures.
He has pledged to double Canada’s non-U.S. trade in the next decade as the country pivots away from its southern neighbour amid an increasingly acrimonious trade war.
Carney said on Tuesday more detailed discussions would begin at the Canada-EU summit in Montreal in late October.
“Our relationship with the EU has become increasingly close, especially over the past year and a half,” Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand told Reuters.
In her speech on Wednesday, von der Leyen said the EU and Canada will work together across sectors.
"We will work on intelligent manufacturing. We will create a tech alliance. We will integrate defence industrial bases. We will make the Arctic a flagship joint project," she said.
"Partnerships are a strategic choice for Europe. But they also respond to the fracture in the international rules-based system," she added.
Von der Leyen added, "This is a partnership not against anyone else.".
(Additional reporting by Lili Bayer in Brussels, Maria Cheng in Toronto; Writing by Julia Payne and Ingrid Melander; Editing by Charlotte Van Campenhout, Philip Blenkinsop and Andrew Heavens)
