On Wednesday, M. Carney will visit Strasbourg, France. He will become the first head of government to participate in the annual “State of the European Union” address, and the next day he will deliver his speech in the European Parliament (EP).
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During the visit, he will also travel to Liverpool, where he will hold the first meeting with the new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (UK), Andy Burnham.
This is a “huge symbol,” said German EP representative Tobias Cremer, who initiated a resolution in March for closer EU-Canada cooperation.
“Canada has many resources that Europe greatly lacks, such as energy, rare earths, or raw materials,” T. Cremer told the news agency AFP.
Canada was severely affected by the US President Donald Trump’s trade war, despite close economic integration with the neighboring country to the south, and is now urgently seeking new economic partners.
According to T. Cremer, the EU was also shaken by D. Trump’s return to power, so the bloc, like Canada, seeks to “diversify and reduce risk” in foreign relations.
Future EU member?
M. Carney has already brought Canada much closer to the bloc.
Canada became the first non-EU country to join its defense procurement program, and the Prime Minister contributed to Canada’s participation in the Eurovision Song Contest.
Next month in Montreal, M. Carney is organizing an EU-Canada summit. According to him, discussions will begin there on creating a “much stronger and deeper economic and security partnership.”
Spanish MEP Javier Moreno Sanchez, who leads the parliament’s delegation for relations with Canada, noted that Ottawa and Brussels agree on climate change and artificial intelligence issues, and a digital trade agreement is already being prepared.
This agreement would be based on the existing free trade agreement CETA, which, according to J. M. Sanchez, has untapped potential because small and medium-sized enterprises have not yet fully utilized its benefits.
Discussions about Canada’s EU membership intensified during D. Trump’s second term.
Asked on Thursday about the possibility of Canada joining the EU, M. Carney refused to either reject or support the idea.
An April poll showed that 57% of Canadians support EU membership, but it is unclear whether Canada meets the criteria at all.
Article 49 of the EU treaty states that a “European state” committed to respecting “human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law (and) human rights” may join the bloc.
The treaty does not specify geographical criteria for a European state, but it is hard to imagine that Canada could meet these requirements.
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