Associate membership does not currently exist within European Union treaties or its standard enlargement framework.

From the articleAhead of EU-Canada summit, European leaders clash over terminologyAlso in Canada-EU summit: What do both sides want, and what’s at stake?, Canada-EU summit will kick off formal talks on closer ties: Carney - National | Globalnews.ca, Canada ‘associate membership’ spurs battle of words with EU capitals, Canada's new relationship with European Union will be 'closer to membership' than ever, senior officials say | CBC News