Germany and the European Commission are at loggerheads over Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's proposal to make Canada an "associate member" of the EU, a dispute four diplomats told POLITICO is deepening a split between von der Leyen and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
The tensions worsened after von der Leyen touted the phrase at a summit in Montreal, hours after a German-led push removed the wording from a joint statement approved by 27 EU capitals. Berlin reiterated its opposition at a meeting of EU ambassadors on Wednesday, two of the diplomats said. A person familiar with von der Leyen's thinking said she has no intention of abandoning the label.
Merz had previously floated "associate member" as a status for Ukraine as it works toward joining the bloc. After the idea was rejected, including by Kyiv itself, officials in Berlin see von der Leyen's push to use the term for Canada as a rebuke of the German chancellor's initiative. Von der Leyen's definition of the term as applied to Canada precludes the status from being offered to Ukraine, two EU diplomats said.
Paula Pinho, chief spokesperson for the Commission, said Brussels and Berlin share the same basic goals on EU-Canada ties. "We're really focusing on building on the foundations that were set last week at the summit," she said. A German diplomat said: "There is no difference in substance. We both committed to form a unique partnership that we don't have with any other country outside the European Union."
The clash over phrasing sits alongside wider disagreements. Berlin has said it will not approve the Commission's proposed long-term budget of around €2 trillion unless "hundreds of billions" are shaved off the total. Von der Leyen's proposal for a European Security Council has failed to gain traction in Germany, where the government has embraced a separate format with France and the UK for sensitive Ukraine-related matters.
Jan Techau, head of Germany for the Eurasia Group and a former speechwriter for the German defense ministry, said: "There is this institutional dilemma between Brussels and Berlin. Von der Leyen has taken a strongly integrationist approach to the EU while Merz has completely developed away from this and talks about the nation states as the primary driver of EU policy." Techau said the label dispute is a proxy for whether the EU should be driven more by its common institutions or by its national governments, and called the issue "unresolvable" in many ways.
A representative for Merz did not respond to POLITICO's request for comment.
