At the end of a 17th Summit, held in harmony between the European Union and Canada, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, President of the European Council Donald Tusk, and European Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström defended their achievements and recalled their common priorities.
In their statement, and at the press conference on Thursday 18 July in Montreal, the parties celebrate a "deep and lasting" partnership and a "prosperous" relationship.
They welcomed the benefits achieved since September 2017, when the CETA, the comprehensive economic and trade agreement between the EU and Canada (see EUROPE 12297/5), was provisionally applied.
This agreement "defends values and strengthens rules-based order", Trudeau said, but conceded that "we still have work to do to enable SMEs to take full advantage of the opportunities" it offers and to take greater advantage of them.
However, the declaration is not prolific with regard to the CETA, it mainly recalls the parties' commitments: to maximise the benefits of the CETA for their citizens; to put SMEs, gender issues, climate and the Paris Agreement at the forefront, in particular through the implementation of the recommendations of the Joint Committee on the CETA.
Indeed, according to the parties, the CETA "allows for greater cooperation between Canada and the EU in addressing climate change and other global environmental challenges".
Confirming that joint work has begun to establish the Investment Court system (ICS), Canadians and Europeans will adopt the necessary decisions to make the Court operational, including its procedural requirements. In addition, the Parties undertake to continue their cooperation to establish the Multilateral Court on Investment (MIC).
Ottawa and the EU welcome the progress made in the negotiations towards mutual recognition of Authorised Economic Operator Programmes and the conclusion of negotiations on a Passenger Name Record (PNR) agreement, which they hope to see finalised soon.
The parties are also interested, in their declaration, in defining the conditions for inclusive growth, which requires gender equality. Collaboration on research and development also helps to identify these gaps and promote sustainable development: Canada has allocated $50 million over five years to facilitate participation in European research programs and an administrative agreement has been signed between the parties to facilitate innovation clusters.
Partners for climate, clean energy transition, ocean protection
In unison on the global fight against climate change, Canadians and Europeans welcomed the rules manual adopted in Katowice (COP 24) for the implementation of the Paris Climate Agreement. They reaffirmed their commitment to support ambitious and effective implementation of the Agreement by all parties and to cooperate with all international partners to this end - in particular to ensure the success of the UN Climate Action Summit on 23 September in New York.
In their final declaration, both sides called on all countries to demonstrate ambition through credible measures to achieve the objectives of the Paris Agreement and reiterated their determination to lead by example with regard to long-term strategies to be submitted to the UN in 2020.
Canadians and Europeans have committed to doubling their investments in R&D and clean technology pilot projects - to "invest in the clean energy transition", said the Canadian Prime Minister.
Commitment was also made to continue efforts to mobilise climate finance to support action in developing countries, particularly within the framework of the African Renewable Energy Initiative. Canadians and Europeans reaffirmed their commitment to address the effects of climate change in the Arctic.
Canada's Environment Minister Catherine McKenna and EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström signed a Canada-EU declaration on the creation of an oceans partnership to facilitate their sustainable use and address marine litter through better governance. It is a partnership to "better protect our marine ecosystems and the health of our oceans", Justin Trudeau told reporters, also highlighting its importance to the employment of coastal communities.
Consolidating digital cooperation
The declaration also underlines the willingness of Canadians and Europeans to develop their joint work on digital policy, announcing in particular the deepening of their cooperation on artificial intelligence. "We are committed to ensuring that we advance these technologies with a human-centred and multi-stakeholder approach, in harmony with our shared laws, policies and values", they said in their statement, adding that they will also work with others to await a global consensus on this approach.
Both sides will also intensify their efforts to combat all manifestations of hatred and incitement to violence and work more closely together to prevent social media and other platforms from being used to incite, publish and promote terrorism, violence and hate. EU/Canada cooperation in the fight against hybrid and cyber threats and disinformation will also be extended. Speaking to the press, the Canadian Prime Minister said that the EU and Canada had a duty to "counter the populist movements that undermine democracy around the world".
Strengthening multilateralism
Recalling their commitments to the G7 and G20, both sides underline their "joint resolution for swift and concerted action" to safeguard and reform the organisation, in order to combat protectionist tendencies, focusing in particular on safeguarding the WTO dispute settlement mechanism and its Appellate Body. However, if these efforts are unsuccessful, an interim solution should be considered. Canada and the EU "finalise an interim appeal arbitration arrangement based on current WTO rules", which preserves the characteristics of the current mechanism.
The declaration also goes into detail on the theme of "democracy, human rights and international security and peace". Of the 44 points in the declaration, 17 are related to these topics and to a "rules-based international order".
Both sides recall their commitment to work more closely together on these issues, particularly in multilateral organisations, but also in the field, "in the most difficult areas". They therefore undertake to work together to counter those who threaten international peace and security.
The statement also discusses the situation in Ukraine, Venezuela, the Iranian nuclear agreement and Syria.
See the statement: https://bit.ly/2Y5yuaw (Original version in French by Hermine Donceel, Aminata Niang and Camille-Cerise Gessant)