EU–Canada: an alliance without ratification

In her State of the Union address on Wednesday, Ursula von der Leyen launched ‘an alliance for the future’ between the European Union and Canada, making the North American country the EU’s first ‘associated member’. The idea of ever-closer cooperation with Ottawa makes a great deal of sense and represents a concrete outcome of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s vision of an agreement between ‘middle powers’. Furthermore, the EU has strong cultural and economic ties with Canada. However, what is the purpose of inventing a status that does not exist in the treaties, one which would either require amending them (an unlikely prospect) or amount to a purely symbolic gesture? The impression is that this is a way of passing the buck, dressing up the inability to strengthen what already exists with high-sounding words – but which, for reasons of political expediency, it is better to turn a blind eye to.

Trade relations between the EU and Canada are governed by a treaty (CETA) which has only been in force on a provisional basis since 2017: ten EU Member States, including Italy (as well as Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Poland and Slovenia), have yet to ratify it. Although a decade of provisional application shows that CETA is an opportunity rather than a risk for our country – where, in fact, the main business organisations are strongly in favour – its ratification is being held hostage by a few agricultural interests, represented in particular by Coldiretti. Although this opposition represents a minority in society and the economy, it holds the majority in politics: if Italy does not vote to ratify the agreement, it is because the main political parties and political leaders, including Giorgia Meloni and Elly Schlein, uncritically parrot Coldiretti’s line. President von der Leyen, who is well aware of the state of affairs, could have taken advantage of the visibility afforded by yesterday’s address to press home her case with the reluctant states. Instead, she chose to sidestep the issue. Perhaps because, by pointing to the moon, she distracts attention from the inability – or, rather, the lack of will – to achieve a concrete result here on earth.