Prime Minister Mark Carney outlined his vision for a closer relationship between Canada and the EU Thursday.
European Parliament
Prime Minister Mark Carney is pitching a new alliance with the European Union as a means to protect their sovereignty from the control of great powers – suggesting the two must work together to build independent data and compute power, payment systems, defence industries, and energy and critical mineral supplies.
One day after U.S. President Donald Trump warned that he could consider a proposal to make Canada an associate member of the European Union a hostile act, the Prime Minister is making it clear that he views a closer relationship as a way to shore up vulnerabilities.
His speech to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, didn’t directly name the United States, though there was no doubt the country was at the top of Mr. Carney’s mind. Yet the Prime Minister insisted that what he is proposing is a way to strengthen Canada’s and Europe’s sovereignty rather than build a rival.
“I am not proposing a third bloc in order to become a great-power rival – only with better manners,” Mr. Carney said.
“We do not seek power to dominate others. On the contrary, we are pursuing resilience so no one, no one can control our open markets, impair our sovereignty, threaten our territorial integrity, or undermine our freedoms, our democracies, our rule of law.”
Mr. Carney’s speech was a call-and-response to one given a day earlier by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who – with the Prime Minister sitting in the front row – invited Canada to become the first-ever associate member of the European Union.
That invitation to take up a currently undefined status the EU has never used before has left open broad questions as to what it would entail – and to what extent Canada might pool funds and harmonize policies or regulations.
At home, Conservatives argued it could mean surrendering a substantial portion of Canada’s sovereignty, and some European leaders expressed qualms about calling the new relationship an associate membership in the EU. Mr. Carney’s delegation preferred to echo another phrase in Ms. von der Leyen’s speech, calling it an “alliance for the future.”
On Thursday, Mr. Carney said Ms. von der Leyen’s proposal opens the door for Canada to become the first associate member and added: “Canada welcomes this ambition.”
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But Mr. Trump’s warning on Wednesday that he could consider the European invitation to associate membership a “hostile act” if it was done with “bad intentions” left a vague but ominous threat over the proposal.
The idea that the United States might object to a Canada-EU relationship could even reinforce Mr. Carney’s call for sovereignty. Yet his speech also made it clear that one goal is to reduce reliance on U.S. financial systems, technology and defence industries.
“Sovereignty goes beyond being able to feed, fuel and defend ourselves. It now requires secure access to AI, semiconductors, critical minerals, payment systems, clean energy technologies, vaccines and space-based communications,” he said.
“We all have important gaps in these strategic capabilities, and we each rely on individual nations or companies to fill them. This creates vulnerabilities, particularly when supposedly ‘global’ companies prove national in the breach.”
Mr. Carney was briefly interrupted before his speech began by someone shouting, “USA, USA.” He smiled and laughed while some members of European Parliament voiced their disapproval at the outburst.
The Prime Minister said recently that Canada envisions a “unique alliance” with the EU that goes beyond the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, the pact signed in 2016. Canada’s relations with the United States, a traditional ally, have worsened with the continuing trade war.
Negotiating associate membership would be complex and likely prompt pushback from EU states, 10 of which have never ratified CETA. Canadian opposition parties said Wednesday that Mr. Carney shouldn’t pursue it without seeking parliamentary approval.
During a press conference with the president of the EU Parliament, Roberta Metsola, Mr. Carney promised to hold a series of debates and a vote in Parliament on the future relationship with the EU. But he added that the process has just started.
“It’s an exciting time,” he said.
During the press conference, Mr. Carney appeared to back away from the notion of Canada becoming an associate member, saying that was a term used by the EU. “What matters is the substance,” he said, adding that Canada is not seeking to become a full member.
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Mr. Carney fleshed out few details but suggested a handful of directions. He said an alliance could include Canadian membership in the EU’s Erasmus student programs to provide more Canadians opportunities to study at European universities, and vice versa.
And he noted that Canada could be a secure supplier for the stockpiles of critical minerals the EU is proposing to build, as well as contributing liquid natural gas and hydrogen.
He proposed pooling sovereign compute infrastructure and working together to develop AI safety protocols and common standards and building an integrated financial services market.
Mr. Carney’s speech in Strasbourg caps a whirlwind week. He hosted global institutional investors at the Canada Investment Summit in Toronto on Monday and Tuesday. Between stops in France, he flew to Liverpool, England, on Wednesday night to discuss a defence partnership with his British counterpart, Andy Burnham.
Canada will host a summit with the EU in Montreal at the end of October.
Mr. Trump threatened to take action against the European Union if it moves forward with Ms. von der Leyen’s proposal.
“If they do that, if I think it’s at all a hostile act, I will put very serious tariffs or stop trading with Europe on many things,” Mr. Trump told reporters en route to an event in North Carolina, calling the proposal “laughable.”
“If it’s a good intention, that’s fine. If it’s a bad intention, we’ll put very heavy tariffs on Europe,” he added.
The European Commission said the proposal was not a hostile act.
“As our President [von der Leyen] made clear yesterday, the proposed strengthening of our partnership with Canada is not against anyone else, but for our common strength,” said Olof Gill, a European Commission spokesperson.
France’s Europe Minister Benjamin Haddad said the United States has no power to veto the EU’s geopolitical choices.
“It is not up to the United States – or anyone else – to choose the political and geopolitical direction of the Europeans,” he told Public Sénat TV.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot also responded to the threat by Mr. Trump.
“It is the sovereign choice of states to join their destinies together,” Mr. Barrot said on French TV channel LCI. “Sovereignty is like borders, it is like democracy: It is not negotiable.”
Mr. Barrot was less sure about Canada’s potential status as an associate member of the EU. The new arrangement will have “to be debated, examined in detail and analyzed.”
With reports from Reuters