Macron says France supports Canada’s future alliance with Europe as an associate state, as Commission President von der Leyen put it
Emmanuel MacronPresident of France, speaking at a joint appearance with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon
Speaking in French beside Prime Minister Mark Carney on Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, President Emmanuel Macron said France strongly supports the agenda of closer ties within the "alliance du futur" (alliance of the future) that Carney had named, with Canada as an associate state as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had said, and as a full member of a European political community that Canada had joined at a summit in Yerevan a few months earlier.
“That is why we very much support this agenda of rapprochement within this alliance of the future that you have named, as an associate state, as the President of the Commission said, as a full member of a European political community to which you did us the friendship of coming a few months ago, in Yerevan. (Translated from French. Original: C'est pourquoi nous soutenons ô combien cet agenda de rapprochement dans cette alliance du futur que vous avez nommée en tant qu'État associé, comme l'a dit la présidente de la Commission, comme membre à part entière d'une communauté politique européenne à laquelle vous nous avez fait l'amitié de venir il y a quelques mois, à Erevan.)”
Original video
Reporting
Where this statement fits
Should Canada become an associate member of the European Union?
In her State of the European Union address on 16 September 2026, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said she would like to work with Prime Minister Mark Carney on opening the door for Canada to be the first associate member of the European Union, as part of moving beyond the existing CETA trade agreement to what she called an Alliance for the Future. Carney, present as an invited guest, told the European Parliament the following day that Canada welcomes the ambition, while attributing the associate-member phrase to von der Leyen rather than adopting it, and promised debates and a vote in the Canadian Parliament on the final structure. Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre set red lines against Canadians paying taxes to Brussels, following European laws they did not vote on, or adopting European immigration policy. United States President Donald Trump said that if he judged the arrangement a hostile act he would impose heavy tariffs on Europe or curtail trade. No agreement has been signed, and associate membership is not a status defined in the European Union's treaties.
Source and context
Original video
About this source
The Elysée's 16:39 video of the joint statement delivered on September 20, 2026 on Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon. Macron speaks in French. The English wording of this passage carried by the Canadian Press differs from the French: its “full-fledged member of the European community” renders “membre à part entière d'une communauté politique européenne.”
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Reporting
About this source
The Canadian Press's report of the leaders' remarks, as carried by the Lewiston-area newspaper Reflector. It says Macron spoke in French; the English quotation is the wire service's translation.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Before the quotation
Macron had said that France and Canada are two great independent nations that believe in democracy, the rule of law, free and fair trade, science and strategic autonomy, and that this is what deeply unites Canada and France, and Canada and the European Union.
After the quotation
Macron went on to cite Canada’s place in the coalition of the willing for Ukraine. The Canadian Press rendered the passage in English as “as an associate member of the Union, as the president said, and as a full-fledged member of the European community”; the French says “communauté politique européenne,” a phrase that appears to refer to the European political community rather than the European Union, so the English wording should not be read as Macron endorsing full EU membership.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
Relative to whether Canada should become an associate member of the European Union, Macron supports the proposition, endorsing the agenda of closer ties and Canada’s status as an associate state as von der Leyen described it. The closest competing label is “Mixed or conditional”, because the same sentence describes Canada as a full member of a European political community, not of the Union; that limits the support to associate status and closer ties, not full EU membership, but it does not qualify the support itself.
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The Dispute Index. "Macron says France supports Canada’s future alliance with Europe as an associate state, as Commission President von der Leyen put it". First published: 2026-09-21. Last updated: 2026-10-07. https://disputeindex.com/events/1333-speaking-in-french-beside-prime-minister-mark-carney