European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Thursday the EU and Canada continue to explore Canada becoming the union’s first “associate member,” a term so divisive among member countries that it does not appear in a joint declaration.

The European Union and Canada aim to deepen cooperation on AI, climate, energy and security, von der Leyen said in a speech at a Canada-EU summit in Montreal.

The associate member term, which Germany and several other EU countries oppose, has no legal meaning.

“Our idea is simple: it is an association without accession,” von der Leyen said. “We can build a partnership that comes closer to membership than anything we have done before.”

“We can work on everything, from AI and climate to energy or security,” she said.

Canadian and EU leaders, however, dropped the idea of associate EU membership from their joint declaration, seen by Reuters, agreeing instead to an “ever closer association.”

The declaration, which officials plan to make public on Friday, said work to define the Canada-EU relationship would continue until another summit next year.

CANADA SEEKING TO REDUCE US DEPENDENCE

Deeper ties ​to Europe are part of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s strategy to reduce Canada’s economic and security reliance on the US since ⁠President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on a range of Canadian goods. Still, Canada’s efforts to draw closer to the EU risk angering Trump as trade talks between Canada and the US ​continue.

Von der Leyen first floated associate membership for Canada six weeks ago, prompting a rebuke from countries that argued they could not agree to a concept that had no legal status and had not been fleshed out, diplomats said.

Three EU diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they were surprised von der Leyen continued to use the “associate member” term, since the declaration deliberately excluded it.

Speaking later at the summit, European Council President Antonio Costa said the idea of associate membership for Canada was “audacious,” but that he shared von der Leyen’s ambition.

A previous draft statement ​had included at least two references to Canada as an associate member, including an acknowledgment that defining the term would take another year.

Carney said the term for Canada’s new relationship with the EU is insignificant.

“This new alliance is not a marketing exercise. The name doesn’t matter,” he told reporters.

“What matters is that the complementarities of our two jurisdictions strengthen our sovereignty, strengthens Europe’s sovereignty, various strategic autonomies, critical minerals, energy, other aspects, AI,” Carney said.

Canada and the EU were both trying to find an effective response to the geopolitical threats Trump has posed, said Mark Manger, a professor at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto.

“Canada and the EU both are now in this position where the most important ally they relied upon is suddenly not behaving like an ally anymore,” he said. Manger said Canada and the EU have an enormous opportunity to expand their relationship, but that it would take time to address regulatory inconsistencies, build new undersea cables linking Canada to Europe and secure common supply chains, some of the objectives mentioned in the joint declaration.

The declaration also proposes conducting a joint feasibility study on Canadian liquefied natural gas exports to Europe ‌and enabling ⁠young Canadians and Europeans to work across the Atlantic.

Von der Leyen called for deeper cooperation between the EU and Canada on Arctic security.

“When we see Russia rebuilding its Arctic military footprint, pursuing hybrid strategies against its neighbors and reshaping the security of the Arctic, it impacts the European Union and Canada,” she said. “We have to act and change our strategic posture and, together with like-minded partners like Canada, stand up for these values.”

Later on Thursday, Carney will meet with European business leaders before hosting a dinner with EU leaders.