Can Canada join the EU?

In this episode, Minna sits down with Aaron Gasch Burnett, a Senior Fellow at the Centre for Strategic Statecraft to discuss what’s really in the idea that Canada could become the first-ever “associate member” of the EU, as suggested by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in her State of the Union speech on 16 September. If you want to support our show, go to our Buy Me A Coffee page at http://buymeacoffee.com/mildlyalarmed Email us at alarmedmildly@gmail.com with any guest feedback, suggestions, and questions. Mentioned in the show: “It’s Not the Economy, Stupid”, from Northern Flank Notes: https://minnalander.substack.com/p/its-not-the-economy-stupid “Mark Carney’s Audacious Bid to Make Canada an ’Associate Member’ of the EU”, from the Wall Street Journal: https://www.wsj.com/world/europe/canada-alliance-eu-carney-276f1778 “In Strasbourg, a muted Carney reins in EU enthusiasm and gives no answers”, from the Globe and Mail: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/commentary/article-in-strasbourg-a-muted-carney-reins-in-eu-enthusiasm-and-gives-no/ “State of the Union 2026”, speech by Ursula von der Leyen: https://commission.europa.eu/strategy-and-policy/state-union_en “Prime Minister Carney meets with President of France Emmanuel Macron”, from Prime Minister of Canada official website: https://www.pm.gc.ca/en/news/readouts/2026/09/20/prime-minister-carney-meets-president-france-emmanuel-macron “LNG deal a rare triple win for Germany, Canada and national unity”, from the Globe and Mail: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/commentary/article-lng-deal-energy-security-germany-national-unity/ “Trump is right to fear a Canada-Europe team-up. But Canada must step up”, from the Globe and Mail: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/commentary/article-trump-is-right-to-fear-a-canada-europe-team-up-but-canada-must-rise-to/ Credits: Anastasiia Lapatina is Ukraine Fellow at Lawfare. She writes a weekly newsletter about Ukraine called Yours Ukrainian. She is based in Kyiv. Karen-Anna Eggen is an Associate Professor and the Head of the Programme for Ukraine and Full-Spectrum Threats at the Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies. She is based in Oslo. Fabian Hoffman is a Senior Research Fellow at the Programme for Ukraine and Full-Spectrum Threats at the Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies. He is the author of the Missile Matters newsletter about defence, missile technology, and nuclear strategy. He is based in Oslo. Minna Ålander is an Analyst at the Stockholm Centre for Eastern European Studies at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs. She’s also an Associate Fellow at Chatham House and a Non-Resident Fellow at CEPA. Minna also writes a newsletter about European security called Northern Flank Notes. She is based in Stockholm. The podcast is engineered by Anthony Bartaway, who is also the co-host of a podcast called Ukraine Without Hype: / @ukrainewithouthype