Canada’s Carney welcomes EU’s associated membership proposal

In address to European Parliament, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney listed areas where he wants to boost cooperation.Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has welcomed the prospect of his country becoming the European Union’s first associate member, saying such an alliance is aimed to be a “beacon for democracies” and not to “dominate others”.Speaking in the European Parliament in Strasbourg, Carney said Canada “welcomes” von der Leyen’s ambition to make the country an associate member.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3EU states to raise game as Arctic becomes strategic geopolitical frontierlist 2 of 3Mark Carney pitches Canada to global investors amid US trade warlist 3 of 3How Canadians are bracing for the impact of Trump’s trade warend of list“We are not fair-weather allies. We do not pursue zero-sum deals. We hold common values for which we have always fought, and in whose defence we must always remain vigilant,” Carney said to applause from European lawmakers.“Canada and Europe are each strong. Europe and Canada are stronger together.”“I am not proposing a third bloc in order to become a great-power rival – only with better manners,” he continued. “We do not seek power to dominate others. On the contrary, we are pursuing resilience so that no one can control our open markets, impair our sovereignty, threaten our territorial integrity, or undermine our freedoms, our democracies, our rule of law.”Carney listed a slew of areas where he wanted to ramp up cooperation.“Canada and Europe should secure our strategic autonomy through deep cooperation in the full range of strategic capabilities, including critical minerals, defence industrial capacity, AI and compute, energy security, space and payments.”He also said the EU and Canada should move towards “seamless digital trade” and allow young people from both sides to work and study on either side of the Atlantic.