The European Parliament adopts the Bilaterals III, and Canada is offered EU “associate membership”, with Erasmus+ as a prominent element in both partnerships.
The European Union is moving to strengthen ties with close international partners. On 10 September 2026, the Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET) of the European Parliament approved the new package of agreements between Switzerland and the EU, the so-called Bilaterals III, with a large majority of 53 votes in favour,3 opposed, and 9 abstentions. The committee considered it a “balanced and responsible political compromise that will strengthen economic and strategic cooperation”. Mr Christophe Grudler (France/Renew), the MEP in charge of this dossier, stated that “in an unstable world, our neighbours must be able to rely on each other”. He furthermore underlined after the adoption that “we do not have a plan B; what we have here is the best possible solution”. Finally, he reminded the Swiss side of the package approach: “When you have a bilateral agreement, signed together, it’s an overall agreement. Any legislation, European or Swiss, that would go against that agreement, would lead to problems, would nullify the agreement.” MEP Reinhold Lopatka (Austria/European People’s Party EPP) added on behalf of the largest political group in the European Parliament that with the package “we need to send a really strong message to young people. The long-term association of Switzerland to EU programmes in education is an essential part [of this package]. It is important for me that we have Switzerland part of the exchange programme Erasmus+ again.”
A few days later, the broader European trend towards closer partnerships was also visible in President von der Leyen’s State of the European Union (SOTEU) speech on 16 September 2026. The speech is a programmatic overview of the main policy initiatives for the coming year. In her speech, Ursula von der Leyen described the state of our world as “cold fragility” combined with a “dizzying speed of change” accompanied by the “rise of extremes and decline of nuance”. Therefore, she announced initiatives with the overarching goal to “build an independent Europe that has the power to act”. In that context, she explicitly mentioned the success and important contributions of Erasmus+ and Horizon Europe in contributing to this goal, citing two entrepreneurs who met on Erasmus+, built a company with Horizon Europe support and lately were the first company to receive Scale-Up Europe Fund funding (Rafal Modrzewski and Pekka Laurila, co-founders of space company ICEYE). Von der Leyen also included a major announcement in her speech: She introduced Canada as the first associate member of the European Union, in the presence of Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. Although it is not clear yet what this membership status means, as it does not exist in the EU Treaties, President von der Leyen wants to “bring the relationship with Canada to the highest possible level” with this new designation. Prime Minister Carney in return called it an “Alliance for the Future” between Canada and the EU. One tangible outcome of this closer status is that the European Commission is already in talks with the Canadian government to join Erasmus+ as the first non-European country. Canada’s continued, and possibly deepened, participation in Horizon Europe is another element of this closer partnership.
The emphasis on deeper cooperation with trusted international partners was echoed only days later by countries currently associated to Horizon Europe. On 22 September 2026, ten non-EU countries in Horizon Europe published a Joint Statement on the Future of Association. They call on the EU institutions to place association at the heart of the next generation of EU research and innovation programmes (2028–2034). Arguing that association has consistently strengthened Europe’s scientific excellence, competitiveness, resilience and global reach, the signatories stress that openness to trusted international partners, such as Switzerland, is a strategic asset. They therefore urge the EU to ensure fast and predictable association from the outset of future programmes, meaningful involvement of associated countries in governance, and transparent, risk-based participation rules across the full research and innovation landscape. Together, these developments show that association is not a technical add-on, but an increasingly strategic tool for connecting Europe with trusted partners.