Prime Minister Carney is in Brussels today for EU-Canada summit

National Observer

5 hours ago

Prime Minister Mark Carney is in Belgium today, where he visited a military cemetery before meeting with European Union leaders at an EU-Canada summit.
Carney said on social media Sunday that he was in Brussels to launch "a new era of partnership" between Canada and the European Union for the benefit of workers, businesses and security "on both sides of the Atlantic."
Carney started the day with a visit to the Antwerp Schoonselhof Military Cemetery where 348 Canadian soldiers are buried.
Carney toured the cemetery alongside his wife, Diana Fox Carney, and Belgian prime minister Bart De Wever.
Carney also took part in a wreath-laying ceremony. Foreign affairs minister Anita Anand, national defence minister David McGuinty and Special Envoy to the European Union and Europe Stéphane Dion were also at the event.
Later, he is expected to meet with De Wever, European Council President António Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Carney posted on social media early on Monday that he spoke with US President Donald Trump overnight, noting the conversation addressed the need to de-escalate the conflict in the Middle East, their shared commitment of a stronger NATO and progress in ongoing trade talks between Canada and the United States.
At the EU-Canada summit, Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand and Defence Minister David McGuinty are expected to sign a security and defence agreement with the European bloc in what one European official described last week as one of the most ambitious deals the continent's powers have ever signed with a third country.
The security and defence agreement aims to open the door to Canada's participation in the joint purchase of weapons with European countries.
It will also lead to Canada's participation in the ReArm Europe initiative, allowing Canada to access a 150-billion-euro program for defence procurement, called Security Action for Europe.
Canada will need to sign a second agreement with the European Commission before it can take part in the program.
A government official briefing reporters on the trip said the partnership is expected to make procurement easier and more affordable, while also allowing Canada to diversify the sources of equipment.
At the EU-Canada summit, leaders are also expected to issue a joint statement to underscore a willingness for continued pressure on Russia to end its war on Ukraine, including through further sanctions, and call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza. The joint statement is also expected to touch on climate change, trade and digital and tech policy.
Speaking to reporters Monday, De Wever said Canada's partnership with the EU is important because "we've woken up in a world that doesn't look that friendly anymore."
"We're living in a world where we have an imperialist power in the east who uses military force, we have a peculiar figure in the White House who is choosing the road of protectionism and even isolationism, so those who like a rules-based world, a multilateral world, should find each other's company now," the Belgian prime minister said.
De Wever said countries will need to spend more on defense and should do so wisely by developing their industrial defense base together.
"Those countries who still like multilateralism are the countries that have to look up each other's company and make good agreements," he said.
Leaders at the EU-Canada summit are also slated to discuss global trade and commit to working toward full ratification and implementation of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, the Canada-Europe free trade deal known as CETA.
The pact took effect provisionally in 2017, and most of its contents now apply. But all EU countries need to approve CETA before it can take full effect, with 10 members still left to ratify the deal.
Carney, Costa and von der Leyen are scheduled to hold a joint press conference in the evening.
On Tuesday, Carney travels to The Hague for the NATO summit.
The international meetings come as Canada looks to reduce its defence procurement reliance on the United States due to strained relations over tariffs and US President Donald Trump's repeated talk about Canada becoming a US state.