Brussels is suggesting the EU should allow an unlimited number of migrants from Canada to live and work in the bloc, insider reports have claimed.
According to the Wall Street Journal, senior EU officials have been actively discussing the possibility of giving Canadians complete visa-free access to live and work in all 27 EU member states as part of efforts to tighten relations with the North American country.
The possibility is said to have repeatedly been discussed during closed-door talks between French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, with both leaders also discussing bringing about other forms of EU-Canada integration.
Outlets with strong links to EU elites have since backed up the reports, with the Spanish Socialist MEP who chairs the European Parliament’s delegation to Canada openly endorsing the idea.
“Canadians are the most European people outside of Europe,” MEP Javier Moreno said.
He added that Brussels should push to go “even further” with integrating Canada into the bloc than it has with other closely aligned countries, such as Switzerland.
One model reportedly being discussed is that of Canada becoming an “associate member” of the European Union, a designation that currently does not officially exist.
Rumours that such an arrangement is under discussion were confirmed on Sunday by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, though unnamed officials reportedly insisted that such terminology was not suggested by Ottawa, and that it was just one of many labels for the proposed alliance being considered.
“What we are looking — and will begin discussions for — [is] a unique alliance with the European Union. We share the same values, we have the same priorities and we have very complementary strengths,” Carney later said in a public statement on the matter, adding that the country was not seeing full membership of the bloc.
Allowing Canadian citizens unlimited access to live and work in Europe could come with a number of issues.
The North American country has historically struggled to fully integrate the large number of migrants that it has naturalised in the 20th and 21st centuries, with some diaspora populations in the country having brought with them political and social conflicts from the developing world.
Tensions between Sikh and Hindu migrants from the Indian subcontinent have been a particular challenge for Ottawa, with violent clashes and sectarian killings having repeatedly taken place in the country over the last two decades.