European Council President António Costa said on Monday that the strategic relationship between the EU and Canada had been taken to an “unprecedented level of closeness” and emphasised the importance of the security and defence agreement that had been signed.
“First, on defence: we have just signed an EU-Canada partnership agreement on security and defence. This reflects our mutual commitment to peace, transatlantic security and deeper co-operation in building defence capabilities,” Costa said at a press conference following the EU-Canada summit in Brussels.
According to him, defence co-operation between Brussels and Ottawa “opens up new opportunities for companies on both sides of the Atlantic.”
“While NATO remains the cornerstone of our collective defence, this partnership will allow us to strengthen our preparedness faster and better, invest more and invest smarter,” the head of the European Council noted.
In turn, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said: “In these difficult times, we have made significant progress in deepening our strategic partnership, particularly in the field of defence. The EU and Canada have been co-operating for many years, both bilaterally and within NATO. Canada has led NATO’s military presence in Latvia since 2014… And today, we have further strengthened this partnership by signing a security and defence agreement that will reinforce Canada’s role in the European security architecture.”
Von der Leyen considers this to be just the beginning, as the parties are now entering into discussions on Canada’s access to the EU’s €150 billion financial instrument to support investment in defence industrial production – SAFE (Security Actions for Europe). The head of the European Commission also pointed out the importance of co-operation between the parties in supporting Ukraine’s defence industry.
“In this increasingly dangerous and divided world, we must be ready to defend our people and our values, ensure our sovereignty and protect our allies. In this spirit, we will head to The Hague tomorrow (for the NATO summit ) with new commitments – significant commitments to our own defence and the defence of all allies, responding to NATO’s goals to accelerate investment in the coming years. And all of this fits into the EU-Canada partnership, which provides for enhanced co-operation across the entire security spectrum,” Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney sais.
