For the European Union, the 20th EU-Canada Summit, to be held in Brussels on Monday 23 June, will be an opportunity to “start a new chapter” in bilateral relations, in light of current geopolitical and geo-economic developments. In particular, the two partners are expected to sign a Security and Defence Partnership to strengthen their cooperation in the face of global security challenges.
Security and defence. The Partnership is intended to be “the most ambitious agreement of its kind that the EU has ever signed with a third country”, as one European diplomat put it. The main areas of cooperation will be crisis management, military mobility, maritime security, hybrid threats, cyber threats and industrial cooperation.
More significantly, this partnership, once signed, will “pave the way” for negotiations between the European Commission and Canada, so that Canada can access a specific programme under the EU’s new ‘SAFE’ financial instrument for defence-related industrial production (see EUROPE 13649/23), authorising it to participate in joint public procurement.
“The possibility for Canada to participate, when the conditions are met (...), is also an advantage for us – we want to ensure that we have access to the best equipment through the best partners”, explained a European official.
Against the backdrop of tensions with the United States, this summit is more broadly about “improving and transforming this partnership into a new and stronger partnership between two of the world’s closest allies”, insisted one European official.
It will conclude with a joint declaration, which will include an annex with a practical agenda and the results to be achieved.
Part of the discussions will also focus on the commitment of the two partners to a clean transition and climate resilience, against the backdrop of the run-up to COP30 in Brazil in November.
Trade. In line with previous summits, this one will also be an opportunity to note the good economic cooperation that exists between the EU and Canada and the benefits of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) that links them. The trade part of CETA has provisionally been applied since 2017. Leaders are also expected to reiterate the importance of ratifying the agreement so that all its chapters come into force quickly. In practice, the agreement still has to be ratified by the parliaments of ten Member States.
Participants at the summit are also expected to launch negotiations for an EU/Canada digital partnership. This sector was not fully covered by CETA, according to a senior European official.
The leaders are also expected to announce the launch of a dialogue on industrial policy between the EU and Canada.
Finally, the hot topic of US tariffs is likely to be broached during the talks, although the leaders are not expected to commit themselves to any coordination. It is more a question of comparing notes between two partners who are similarly affected by customs duties. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal and Pauline Denys)