European and Canadian leaders stressed in Montreal on Friday 30 October their desire to bring the European Union and Canada closer together by launching the ‘Canada-EU Alliance for the Future’, which aims to “create a common prosperity and economic security space” open to other partners.
In the declaration they adopted, the European and Canadian leaders commit, alongside this Alliance, to establishing “an even closer association between the EU and Canada”. “By the 2027 Canada-EU Summit the concept of an ever-closer association of Canada to the EU, short of full membership itself”, they state, explaining that this strengthened association will reflect their shared commitment and cooperation towards common goals on prosperity, economic security and strategic autonomy.
“We are working to establish the closest possible partnership — without going as far as membership — that would make Canada the first associate member of the European Union. Over the coming months, we will define the full substance, scale and scope of this new form of membership”, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney told the media.
In March 2027, the college of European Commissioners will meet members of the Canadian government in Canada. In June, Mr Carney will attend the European Council, with the “aim of concluding the discussions” on the new partnership.
Trade. A draft declaration seen by Agence Europe on 27 October (see EUROPE 13969/11) indicated that the Member States intended to “achieve full ratification” of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). The wording adopted in the final declaration is more nuanced: “We remain committed to its effective implementation, while fully respecting the ratification processes underway in Member States in accordance with their constitutional requirements”.
The issue remains politically sensitive. Although Slovenia has recently ratified the agreement, nine Member States have still not done so. The commercial side of the free trade agreement have been provisionally applied since 2017. Since then, trade in goods and services between the EU and Canada has grown by nearly 80%, as several European officials were keen to point out.
Digital trade. Building on these foundations, the two partners confirmed their intention to move forward by signing a Digital Trade Agreement (DTA) to complement CETA.
“For entrepreneurs, the Digital Trade Agreement you have just seen signed, combined with seamless payments, will make it easier to sell online in Europe. This means [...] a Vancouver-based technology start-up will have easier access to customers in Berlin”, Mark Carney welcomed.
The EU and Canada have also concluded negotiations on an agreement to strengthen cooperation between competition authorities.
Energy and critical minerals. On Friday, Canada and the European Investment Bank (EIB) concluded negotiations on an agreement intended to facilitate European investment in Canadian resources, particularly critical raw materials such as nickel deposits in Quebec.
The EU is seeking to secure and diversify its supplies of materials essential to many sectors, including defence and electric battery production.
In the declaration, the two sides commit to accelerating their collaboration across the entire value chain (extraction, processing, refining, manufacturing and recycling). They intend to guarantee access to these raw materials for civilian and defence industries, including through the stockpiling of critical resources to guard against market fluctuations and geopolitical shocks.
The EU will also continue working with Ottawa on energy, modernising their nuclear cooperation agreement under Euratom.
Industry. In their declaration, the EU and Canada specify that their Alliance for the Future will be based on reciprocity in the industrial sectors where they have agreed to deepen their strategic cooperation.
The two sides promise to mobilise investment “to catalyse job creation, grow strategic industries, and ensure our workers and critical industries succeed – while prioritising competitiveness and protecting our shared interests”.
Dialogues will be launched on climate security and transport.
Foreign affairs. The Alliance will also draw on “more active foreign and security policy partnership”, including by accelerating implementation of the security and defence partnership and strengthening collaboration in areas such as international peace and crisis management, sanctions, the defence industry, maritime security, hybrid threats and resilience, as well as cybersecurity, information-sharing and space security.
The Commission and Canada have also signed two agreements, one on Galileo and the other on cooperation on secure space connectivity.
The European and Canadian partners intend to focus more of their efforts on shared priorities, “ranging from the EU’s neighbourhood, Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova and the Western Balkans to the Indo-Pacific, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean”.
The EU thus welcomed Ottawa’s intention to participate in the loan mechanism supporting Ukraine, currently worth €90 billion (see EUROPE 13972/2). Mr Carney said his country’s contribution would be €500 million.
The two sides will also launch a dedicated dialogue on the Arctic, following the European Commission’s recent presentation of its new strategy on the subject (see EUROPE 13964/13).
The Union and Canada will also establish a framework for cooperation on democratic resilience, including a dialogue on foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI).
People-to-people contact. The EU and Canada also want to strengthen people-to-people connections.
The partners will therefore begin negotiations on increased Canadian participation in Erasmus+, hold discussions on cooperation in skills development, improving worker and researcher mobility and attracting talent, and explore the establishment of a next-generation youth mobility partnership.
Home Affairs. Finally, the European and Canadian partners agreed on a working arrangement between the European agency Frontex and the Canada Border Services Agency, establishing a broader framework for operational cooperation on border security.
The two sides also committed to ratifying the agreement on the transfer and processing of air passenger name record data (PNR data) as soon as possible (see EUROPE 13621/22).
While, according to a draft declaration dated 28 October, the two sides had intended to begin negotiations on an international agreement allowing judicial cooperation in criminal matters between Eurojust and the Canadian authorities, the adopted declaration merely states that they will “further broaden judicial cooperation where possible through Eurojust and increase coordination on emerging security challenges”.
See the declaration: https://aeur.eu/f/o6z (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant and Juliette Verdes)